Broken Angel
by StriderX
Summary: Rioko Stone was a lonely teenager with no one in the world but the memory of her lost brother. But after she meets up with Virgil at the docks and is effected by the big bang, her whole life begins to change. But is it really for the better? [COMPLETE]
1. The Life of the Lonely

--Disclaimer—I do not own Static Shock or any of its characters or events.

--Note—Hi everybody! This is my first fanfic, so please read and review; let me know what you think! Enjoy!

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Tossing and turning all night, the girl slept restlessly. "No, no...don't go..." she mumbled as she turned. _Goodbye, my dear little sister..._ somewhere in the distance, she dreamt of a young man saying those words to a slightly younger version of herself as he walked away. "Please...don't leave me..." she woke with a tear falling down her cheek before she could finish her cry. _Francis..._

Her room was dark, as it was still late in the night--maybe around two. With her head in her hands, the girl quietly prayed that dream would go away. "Get out of there!" she cried while she rubbed her forehead with her hands. The old wooded floor of her run-down apartment creaked with her weight as she stood and walked towards a small kitchen on the other side of the room. After grabbing a glass on the counter, she filled it with water from the sink and took a sip. "Why did you have to leave?" she asked quietly as if she was talking to some unseen ghost from her past. She then placed the glass, now half-filled with water, back on the counter and made her way back to bed and within minutes had fallen back to her restless sleep.

The sun rose high in the morning sky later on that morning and woke the girl with a kind shining of its rays. The girl, now seen to be a teenager of about sixteen, stood from her bed and tiredly made her way to the bathroom across the hall where she took a shower and readied herself for the day. Unlike the other teens her age though, she wasn't getting ready for school. She lived alone and had to pay a monthly rent to the owner of her building, so she had to work. She wore an outfit of olive green cargo pants, held up at her hips by a black belt, a black tank top that showed some of her lower stomach, a black knee-length leather jacket, and a pair of black army-like boots, mostly hid by the length of her long pants. Her makeup was of dark green eye shadow to mach her shadow-like deep green eyes and red lipstick so dark it could have been mistaken for black to go with her shoulder-length black and red hair. Regardless of whether she meant to or not, even on a day as bright and sunny as this one, she still appeared as a shadow waiting in the dark to see the light.

Starting out the door, she grabbed her keys, locked the door behind her and began down the long, broken stairway leading to the street below. After a careful trek down the uneasy stairs, the teen's pail skin glowed as she walked out into the bright shinning of the morning sun. Dakota was her city, but the ruined world of Downy Ville was her home. Downy Ville was technically part of Dakota, but considering its ruined appearance and gang-ruled government, it had come to be known as its own world set apart from the rest of the city. The streets of Downy were broken and filled with litter, twisted cops patrolled on their own rules, and gang members riddled every dark alley; constantly waiting for any moment to earn a good street rep with the leaders of their gangs.

Still, despite its dark and twisted ways, Downy Ville was the safest place for people like this girl; for all criminals and orphans; all crooked men and gangs. As you can imagine though, with all these wrecked people living in one area, Downy was probably the worst and most depressing place to live. No wonder why then, the majority of Downy's residents, including our girl, would travel over to the true Dakota side of the city to work and go to school. It was probably a thirty minute walk for this girl in particular, but for her, it was worth it. Over there, she had a whole different life.

Everyday she would walk those thirty minutes through the long streets of Dakota to a little cafe on the corner of 35th and Main. The Coffee Pot; it was called. She would walk up the few steps to the front door, go inside to the cheerful, contemporary decor, and make her way back to her station at the cash register where she was greeted by her boss, "Good morning, Rioko. How are you today?"

Yes, her name was Rioko. Rioko Stone, to be precise. The name fit her well, as it seemed to have a dark, but innocent air about it; just like she did. Rioko (or Rie, as she was known by her friends...or, at least she would be if she had any friends) was probably one of the best employees in all of Dakota. She was never late, never complained, and never once called in a sick day. Her boss hated her style in clothes and makeup, but he tolerated it in fear that if he said anything, he'd lose his best worker. She even worked through ever holiday! Who in there right mind works through the holidays without complaint? I'm not sure. Maybe it was because she had no one to celebrate with. Or maybe, she just liked working. That's beside the point though. The point is, she worked long and hard and it was beginning to seem like her dark shadow of a life would never see the sun. That was all soon to change though.

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Well, that's it for the first chapter. Sorry Static isn't in this one. He will be later on though I promise! Later. 


	2. Virgil Hawkins

Hi readers! Sorry these two chapter's have been soo short. They get longer after this. Enjoy!

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Each day, there was a boy that came in the cafe for a medium coffee and a chocolate chip cookie at exactly 7:30 in the morning. His name was Virgil Hawkins. He was a nice kid, about the same age as Rioko. Every morning, Rie would get his order ready and have it waiting for him when he walked in the door. And today was a day no different then any other. Just as she always had, Rie made his coffee and took out a fresh-baked cookie for him just before he walked in. Virgil walked up to the counter where he greeted Rie with a kind smile and friendly greeting.

"Hi Rioko! How are you today?" His thick, black dreads fell over his soft, African-American face as he spoke.

"I'm alright, how 'bout yourself?" Rie said as she took the money Virgil held out to her.

"I'm good actually." Virgil watched as Rie placed his money in the cash register and calculated his change. "Thanks." he said as she handed him his change. "You have a good day, okay?"

"I'll do my best, you too." Rie said as Virgil walked out the door and waved back as to say he would.

Rie always wondered what kind of life Virgil lived, but she never thought to ask one day when he came into her quant little cafe. Truth was, Virgil's life was completely opposite to that of Rie's. Virgil lived on the other side of Dakota; opposite of Downy Ville, in a nice townhouse with his father and older sister. He led a good life of a free teenager who went to school during the week and hung with his best friend, Ritchey Foley, all the rest of the time. Who knew the lives of these two very different people would soon collide together. See, both Rioko's, Virgil's, and many other teens lives were about to change that very night.


	3. The Big Bang

To Glamek Stalker: Thank you so much for your review! It was really encouraging to me cuz I was beginning to think no one was reading my story. Anyway, I'm really sorry for borrowing Downy Ville from you. To be completely honest, I didn't know it was yours. I mean, I first read about it in one of your stories (love your writing, by the way) and I guess it just didn't click in my brain that it was your idea. Thankx for letting me use it though. I promise, you get full credit for creating it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock or any of its characters or events. I also do not own the city of Downy Ville. That is owned by Glamek Stalker, from whom I'm respectfully borrowing.

Hi all you peoples! Umm..yeah...here's the third chapter...hope you enjoy!

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At exactly 5 o'clock that evening, Rioko hung up her apron and left her job; as it was the end of her shift. She walked down the street under the setting sun and headed back towards her depressed homeworld. Her walk was slow and depressed, as if something heavy weighed upon her mind. "Why? Why?" she ran through her head over and over. She walked through the busied streets of Dakota and made her way into the dark alley's of Downy. Ignoring the groups of gangs lingering on each corner, she made her way to her apartment where she unlocked her door and went inside to try and make a dinner of some kind. Seeing her circumstances she couldn't afford much food-wise, but she still managed to get by. After little time had passed, Rie was finished her make-shift dinner and was making her way into her bedroom where she gently picked up a piece of paper and studied it before leaving again. _Attention Gangs— Gang Fight at the Docks; Gate 10; Tonight, 11:30_. Rie knew that this fight would decide which gang would rule the city. She also knew she stood stay as far as possible from gate 10 of the docks that night, but still, she knew she had to go. She had to go and face the nightmare that had been plaguing her mind for so many years.

Afraid of what might happen; Rie was hesitant to walk out her door yet again. Regardless of her fear though, she grabbed a long, hooded coat she had in a nearby closet, left her apartment building, and stepped out onto the now night-stricken sidewalk. The night was darker then usual; eerie in a way. No one was in the streets, lit signs flickered out, and the dark night sky seemed to be starless as if it was painted with pure black. Rie walked somewhat hastily across the streets and through alley shortcuts she knew until she reached the deserted docks. There were few lights, so it was hard to see unless u knew what you were looking for. Rie pulled her hood up over her head so her face was no longer easily visible and hid behind a tall stack of crates. She pulled out a small pair of binoculars and began looking for her nightmare. She looked and looked, but saw nothing. After scoping out every corner, Rie decided to start at the beginning and look again. This time, she saw someone. It was Wade Johnson and his boys. Wade was the leader of the D-Side gang (as they called themselves) and was no doubt here to fight for the title of the best. But there was someone else. Rie focused her binoculars the best she could to try and see who the unfamiliar face was. She couldn't believe who she saw standing near Wade. It was Virgil! The very same Virgil who she had come to think was such a good kid. _What the heck is he doing here?_ Rie asked herself.

Rie continued to question Virgil's appearance with D-Side, but her thoughts were quickly diverted when she caught out of the corner of her eye another gang coming out of the dark. Rie looked in curiosity since she did not know this particular gang. "Wait...it couldn't be..." staring deep into the dark, she saw yet another gang emerge just beside the one she just spotted. Their leader came out first. He was fairly tall, had tanned skin, green eyes, and spiked red hair streaked with blonde. "It's him." Rie's eyes narrowed to see the punk-looking young man before her. It was him. The boy from her nightmare had grown into this man. _Francis..._ she grew almost sad to see him. Especially after seeing the sinister smile on his face.

Preoccupied by the sight of the spikey-haired teen, Rie didn't notice the two men sneaking up behind her. They came up to nearly two steps of reaching her when one of them accidentally stepped on a small piece of plastic. The small crackle couldn't be herd from far, but it was just enough warning for Rioko. Cautiously, she set down her binoculars and turned to face her opposers. Before her stood a very built young man of about nineteen years old, and another, also built, of about seventeen. But, as could be told from Rie's mocking smile, they didn't scare her a bit. The very moment one of them lunged out towards her, Rie dodged to the side. The other leaped in attempt to catch her, but her shadow-like appearance made her difficult to chase. The two fighters' desperately searched around to find her, but to no avail. After a few moments, the two made the fatal mistake of letting down their guards and next thing they knew, Rie appeared out of the shadows and knocked both of them to the ground where they preceded to fall unconscious. "Slow and weak..." she said under her breath. Rie didn't like to fight, but as was just seen, she knew how if she had to.

Turning back to her post, Rioko picked up her binoculars again and looked across the docks. She could no longer see the spikey-haired teen that plagued the back of her mind...or anyone else for that matter. All she could see was Virgil, hiding in a corner with a frightened look on his face. Rie knew he didn't want to be there; she knew she had to help him get away before he got hurt. Being careful not to be seen, Rie slipped behind each member of the opposing gangs. Within a minute, she found herself on the other side of the pier staring at Virgil from behind a tall stack of crates.

"It ends tonight!" All heads turned when Wade Johnson shouted those words. All of the sudden, the dock exploded with fighting. Teens from each gang fought anyone who stood in their way; using whatever they could as weapons to beat down those not on their side. Rie wanted to confront the spikey-haired teen she spotted before, but all her senses were now on a frightened Virgil. She darted out from her hiding place and quickly ran over to him.

"Virgil! What are you doing here?" Rie said as she approached Virgil.

"Rioko?! I should ask you the same question!" Rie could tell Virgil was scared and obviously didn't know what he had gotten into.

"That's not important now. Are you with D-Side?"

"Umm...well, no...not really...its hard to..." Virgil struggled in finding the right way to explain himself.

"Alright. Calm down. Listen to me, this is very important. You have to get out of here. Get out of the docks over that fence right there." Rie pointed at a short fence to the right of them.

"But what about you? You've gotta get away from here too."

"Look, Virgil, I meant to be here. You obviously did know what you were getting into. Just leave before you get hurt. I have to go." Rie shoved Virgil to the fence and argued with him until he finally began climbing.

Just then, the sound of a gunshot filled the air, and all the fighting stopped. It was the police. A helicopter flew over the fight with a spotlight blaring down on the stunned fighters. One teen pulled out a gun and shot the spotlight from the chopper and the rest began running away from the policemen now in hot pursuit. Rioko knew she couldn't let the spikey-haired teen escape without her knowing where he went, so she quickly ran from Virgil's side in attempt to catch him.

"Rioko!" Virgil shouted. Part of him wanted to climb that fence and get out of there, but for some reason he felt he couldn't leave his new-found friend behind. He ran after her; doing his best to follow her shadowy form.

Meanwhile, in the center of the docks, four policemen cornered two of the gang fighters. One of the cops fired a shot at one of the weapon-baring teens, but missed and shot a container marked 'toxic gas' instead. Within seconds, the large container exploded; causing a chain explosion of the entire stack of containers marked with the same warning. The light of the explosion lit the entire dock before covering it in a thick, purple colored gas. Everyone in the proximity of the gas began coughing and choking at the burning the gas caused as they inhaled it—yes, even Virgil, Rie, and the spikey-haired teen. Virgil lost sight of Rie in the gas, but knew he had to get out of there before he passed out. He quickly climbed a nearby fence and ran away from the docks as fast as he could. Even Rioko, despite her determination, fled from the docks after seeing the goal of her pursuit passed out on the ground.

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The End. Haha...just kidding. The next chapter will be up soon:) 


	4. Aftermath

Hey guys. Here's the 4th chapter. Please, please, review!! I'm begging you!!

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The next day, Rioko woke to find herself laying on the couch in her apartment. At first, she didn't remember the events of the night before, but as she moved and felt a severe aching throughout her body, she quickly remembered. "The docks!" She yelled as she jumped up from the couch, only to fall back down again. "What happened? That gas...it did something to me..." Rie stared at her now shaking hands and could feel something was different.

She slowly stood from her seat again and leaned on the back of the couch as she tried to stand up straight. _Why do I feel so weak?_ after a few moments of struggle Rie managed to stand on her own and make her way to a mirror in her bedroom. "I look the same...so why to I feel so different?" She stood for nearly five minutes trying to figure out what this weird new feeling was until she finally found some evidence of change.

Concentrating hard on her reflection in the mirror, she noticed her eyes were changing color. The more she focused, the more they changed into a bright fiery red. Suddenly, she could feel her body heating up. Her temperature grew higher and higher and she began to see a slight smoke rising from her skin. "What's happening to me?!" Rie began to back away from the mirror, panicking at her own reflection. She stared at her hands as a red glow started emitting from them. "What's going on?" she concentrated harder; curious as to what would happen. Just then, as she focused as hard as she possibly could, brilliant red and gold flames engulfed her hands. Rie gasped; unsure how to react. Her hands were on fire, yet she felt no burning. _What am I? _

For a split second, Rioko's attention was drawn away from her flaming hands and smoking body to a raven sitting outside her window. As she watched it, she could feel a new feeling arising in her. _Now what?_ she wondered. "Maybe if I focus on that feeling these flames will go away..." At that, Rie clenched her fists on concentrated deeply on the rouge feeling growing inside her. Within moments, she felt it arising; taking place of the burning sensation. A black flame-like shadow took hold of her; bringing her whole body into a strange darkness. She wasn't afraid though...instead; she embraced it and let the strange shadow consume her. It spun around her and mixed with the flames of her hands for only a few seconds until it began pulling back into her body. As it retreated, Rie no longer stood, but a strange black raven with fiery red eyes and mixed feathers took her place. The bird stood as if in shock, flapping its wings and testing its wobbly legs. Was this Rioko?

After a little bit of time went by, the same shadow that was seen before rose from the bird's body and spun around it until it began to decease; leaving only Rioko, back in her human form. _Whoa. What a rush..._ Rie looked again at her hands and peered in the mirror. "That gas...it made me some kind of pyrokinetic-shapeshifting mutant! Cool…but a bit disturbing. I wonder if this happened to any of the others who were there last night?" Rie walked over to her television with a revived amount of energy and turned on the news.

"As you can see, the awful tragedy, now being called 'the big bang', at gate 10 of Dakota's docks last night has created what may be an innumerable amount of these metahumans." As the reporter spoke, Rie watched almost stunned to see some of the teens with her at the docks suffering in hospital beds as they change into many types of creatures. (One was becoming some type of ice monster, while another began sprouting wings and feathers like a bird.) She turned off the news and just stood thinking about those with her the previous night. _Francis…Virgil…I pray you're alright…

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K, that's it for this chap. Again, please review! I wanna know what u think! 


	5. The Visit

To Victoria Wolf: Thankx alot for your reviews! Oh, and about Francis...I can't tell you much cuzI don't wanna spoil the story, but don'tworryabout him too much...he's my favorite character;)

To Glamek Stalker: Thankx again for your review and for letting me use Downy. I know I'm not getting too much in detail with it, but still...thankx.

Hey yawl. Chapter5 is up and ready for your enjoyment! Later.

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On the other side of town, Virgil too woke up with strange new powers. As he did the same things he did every morning, like getting dressed, shaving, and washing his face, he noticed he was emitting a strange electric charge to everything he got near. Excited about his new powers, he rushed to his best friend, Richey's, house and showed him his new skills.

"Check it out Rich! I'm like a human fuse box here!" Virgil said as he shot out bursts of electricity from his hands.

"Way cool bro! You know what; you could so be a superhero with that kind of power!" Richey said enthusiastically.

"Yeah...I could...hmm...I could be like the guy that stops the wack bang babies."

"We gotta find you an outfit!" Richey and Virgil went through many different uniforms and outfits before they came out with just the right one. It was a white no-sleeved shirt with a neat lighting logo in the center, somewhat baggy navy blue pants, black boots, matching gloves, a long, navy blue and yellow hooded coat, and of course, a sleek white mask covering his eyes to hid his identity.

"It's a keeper for sure!" Richey said in excitement.

"Yeah. Now for a name...how 'bout Static?"

"Static...I like it!" Richey cleared his throat and acted like a news reporter. "So Static, what will be your first order of official business?"

Virgil suddenly grew very serious as he spoke, "I need to go check on someone I saw at the docks last night."

At that, Virgil left his friend with his new costume tucked tightly in his bag and began walking towards the Coffee Pot where Rie worked. Upon arriving, Virgil noticed Rioko wasn't there, so he walked up to another one of the employee's and did a little investigating.

"Na...I never thought she'd miss a day of work, but she just didn't show up today." The employee said.

"Hmm...well, do you know her address? Or maybe phone number?"

The employee nodded slightly and went over to a small computer on the side of the counter. "Yeah. Her address should be right..." he paused as he typed in Rioko's name on the keyboard. "Yeah, right here. I'll print it out for you."

"Thanks." Virgil said with a smile. The employee of the small cafe then printed out a copy of Rie's address and Virgil was off; back on the sidewalk again as he tried to figure out which way to turn.

"Oh boy...now I know Pop's doesn't want me in Downy Ville, but I've just gotta see if she's okay." Virgil couldn't help running through his mind all those times his father warned him about how dangerous Downy and its people were. He didn't really care now though—not now that he was a bang baby anyway. "Okay, she should live right here." He stopped his trek upon reaching an old, rundown building. _Man, who could live in a place like this? _he thought to himself as he walked in the building through the half-broken door.

"Are you looking for Rioko, kid?" An old, raspy voice said from nowhere.

"Uhh...yes. My name's Virgil. I'm a...a friend." Virgil said as he tried to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"There's no need for explanations kid. She's up two flights; second door on the right." Finally, the voice was placed with its owner. An old woman appeared from inside one of the apartments down the hall. "Oh, and be careful going up the stairs. I think there's a couple broken up near the top."

"Uhh...thanks...I think." Virgil's grew uneasy to see the long, warn steps ahead of him. "Well, here we go..." As he began to climb, he was cautious of his steps and almost jumped every time one of them creaked from his weight. Higher and higher he went until finally, he reached that very last step without any really trouble. _Whew...well that wasn't too bad._

Virgil looked straight ahead down the short, crooked hall to the second door on the right. He didn't know why, but he felt nervous to knock on the door. Every step he took cracked underneath him; making him feel like the whole floor was going to collapse at any time. Upon reaching her door, Virgil stood for a moment before knocking.

_Knock, Knock._ Rioko was startled by the sound. She looked up from the small flame on her palm she was learning to control, quickly extinguished it by clenching together her fist, and walked over to her door. Virgil could hear her unlocking a couple of locks and soon after saw the door slowly creep open until he could plainly see Rioko standing in front of him.

"Virgil? What are you doing here?" Rie said curious to know what such an 'up-town' kid was doing in Downy, let alone her doorstep.

"Hey Rie. I just wanted to see if you were okay since you weren't at work today."

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Umm…do you wanna come in?" Rie opened the door all the way and gestured for Virgil to come inside.

"Sure." Virgil walked into Rie's small home and immediately pitied her in his mind to see the state in which she was living. _No wonder she looks so depressed all the time…_ Virgil thought.

"Ah, you can sit on the couch if you'd like." While Virgil quickly nodded and sat on the couch Rie continued, "Well, ahh…I know we both wanna know, so why don't I just start...did that gas to anything weird to you like it did to some of the other kids?"

Virgil contemplated for a moment before answering. "Umm...actually, before we get on that subject, there's another question I want to ask you first."

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Well, I hopedeverybody liked it...haha...and if you didn't, well that's just too bad for you. K, I'll update again soon. Later. 


	6. Memories of the Past

Hey guys. Sorry it took me a little longer to get this chapter up. I hope you like it though:) later.

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Rie sighed deeply as she slumped down next to Virgil on the couch. "Let me guess, you wanna know why I was at the docks, right?" Virgil nodded in agreement before she continued on. "Okay. Let's see...where do I begin?" Rie paused and took a sip of soda from a half-empty can sitting on the coffee table in front of her. "Well, I was looking for someone."

"Who would you be looking for in a place like that?"

"My brother." Virgil's eyes grew large with a mix of curiosity and concern as she spoke. "His name's Francis Stone..."

Virgil immediately interrupted Rie in mid-sentence. "Whoa, wait a sec…Francis Stone is your bro?!"

"Yeah...do you know him?"

"Sort of. He's a bully at my school that used to beat me up after class all the time." Virgil's words were almost careless as he was still in shock to find out that one of the meanest and most dangerous kids in town was the brother of such a quiet and calm person as Rioko. But maybe she wasn't quite as calm and quiet and he thought.

"That sounds like something Francis would do." Rie snickered.

Virgil could tell by her tone of voice that she was ashamed to think that her own brother beat up the one kid who was actually nice to her. "I'm sure he had his reasons. Anyway, that's beside the point. Why were you looking for him? Did you like lose him or something?"

"I guess you could say that. See, when I was eight, my parents were killed and Francis and I were sent to live with our uncle in Gotham City. Up till then, we always thought our uncle was a neat guy, but we found out much different when we started living with him. He was always getting into some kind of trouble with the law, and I don't think I can even remember a day where he was sober. Over the next few months, our lives had become not much better then a living hell. Our uncle was rarely ever home, Francis was always off fighting in gangs as an escape from our uncles beatings, and I was left to fend for myself and try to get through school."

"Man...what a childhood..." Virgil wanted to say something more encouraging, but the shock still overtook him from speaking.

"Yeah. Anyway, Francis and I ended up running away to a different part of Gotham and tried to start new lives for ourselves. Everything went well for the first few months; Francis and I both were going to school and living fairly well off the money we had stolen from our uncle. Unfortunately, it didn't take too long for Francis's old enemies from his gang-fighting days to catch up with us. After a while, his whole personality started to change. Every night he'd come home with a new injury and a new enemy on our tail." Rie paused, trying to control the heavy emotions building up inside her dark eyes. "I guess...in the end, he did it for me, but I'm still not sure."

"Did what?"

"One night, he came home pretty beat up; in both body, and spirit. I'll never forget the sadness in his eyes as he limped into his room and shut the door. I sat for hours that night; waiting for him to come out of his room. Finally, he did. But not in the way I wanted. He was carrying a backpack full of some of his things and was wearing a jacket; giving me a clue he was leaving. He walked over to me; his eyes were red as if he had been crying and his expression was still sadder then I had ever seen...even more so than that at our own parent's funerals. He gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that he would always love me. Then, the next thing I knew, he was saying goodbye and walking out the door. I remember trying to run after him, but he wouldn't let me. He told me to stay, and that was the last I ever saw of him. Until last night, that is."

"Wow. I...I don't even know what to say. I'm sorry for what's happened to you." Virgil knew, as did Rie, that he had no reason to apologize, but still, he felt as if it was the right thing to say.

Rie smiled slightly as she realized how sincere Virgil was. "So am I. But, what happened, happened. And now all I want to do is find him and become his sister again." Realizing the tears building in her eyes, Rie quickly wiped them away and composed herself from the emotional story. "So...Virgil! There's my story, now what's yours?"

Startled by Rie's surprisingly happy tone of voice, Virgil jumped slightly from his seat. "Umm... well, it's like I told you last night, I really didn't mean to be there. Wade saved my butt a couple of times from your bro and eventually asked me to join his gang. I didn't want to be any part of it since my ma was killed a while back from gang gunfire, but I was afraid of what he'd do if I refused."

"So you joined him."

"Well...not exactly. I didn't say yes...I just said I'd think on it. Anyway, no matter if I was officially one of his gang or not; he still told me to come to the docks. To make a long story short, I went, he gave me a gun, I got scared, threw the gun into the river, and hid behind a pile of crates...you know the rest."

Rie smiled slightly as she took another sip from her soda. "I didn't think you looked like the gangbanger type. You know you're gonna be on Wade's bad-list now though, right?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured that. Thanks to that weird gas though, I don't think I'm gonna have to worry much about him." Virgil shot a small burst of lightening-like electricity from his finger and lifted up a few metal coins on the table.

"So, it did do something to you." Rie said while she watched her change fly around the table.

"You bet it did. Haha...no need for electric outlets with me around!" Virgil set the coins back on the table and recalled his lightening shock. "So, what about you? I'm guessing it did something to you to right?"

Rie smiled and nodded as she ignited her hand in a brilliant flame. "Pryokinetics...the ability to create and control fire. Cool, huh?"

"Cool? That's awesome!"

"That's not all either. Check this out..." Rioko stood from her seat and focused on the memory of the raven she saw outside her window earlier. Within seconds, she was engulfed by the strange black shadow-flame. Virgil leaned back in his seat as the flame rose higher and higher, until finally, it extinguished. Leaving the same black and red raven it had before.

"Rioko? Is that you?" Virgil asked; reaching out to touch one of the birds' magnificent feathers.

In response, Rie fluttered her wings and soon, the bird transformed again into the human form of herself by means of the shadowy flame. "Yep...it's me alright."

"Whoa, that's awesome! How did you do that?"

"I don't really know. All I have to do is think of an animal, and I can change into it."

"Hey, I have an idea!" Virgil stood from his seat and walked over to Rie who was now standing in the kitchen on the other side of the room. "I was thinking of starting a career as a superhero, you know, since there's so many wacked metahumans out there. Why don't you join me? We could be like the most famous duo in Dakota!"

"Superhero, huh? No offense Virgil, but I'm not exactly superhero material. I mean really, if Dakota had its way, I'd probably be in juvy right now."

"Well, think of this as a way to clean your record. Come on Rioko! Please? Hey, just think how much faster you'll be able to find your bro!" Virgil begged consistently knowing that doing something good with her life would probably help Rie with many of the problems she had. "Just try it. You can always stop if you don't like it..."

Realizing that Virgil wasn't about to give up until she agreed, Rie thought of a quick way to turn him down. "I'm sorry Virgil. I barely have enough energy to work through my own life right now; I really don't want to have to worry about anyone else's."

"Are you sure? It could be good for you, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sure Virg. Good luck with that though. I know you'll be good at it."

Virgil sighed heavily in disappointment, but still managed to smile as he tried to understand Rioko's position. "Okay. But if you ever change your mind, here's my phone number." Virgil handed Rie a piece of paper he had taken from his pocket. "If you ever need anything, give me a call."

"Okay. Oh, and Virgil, thanks for coming over. It's been a long time since I've had a friend I've felt like I could trust."

Virgil smiled and began to walk toward the door. "No prob. See ya later Rie."


	7. Changing Dispair

To Feral2K: Thankx alot for your review! I'm glad you like it so far.

Hi everybody. Sorry this chap is so short. I was gonna just combine it with the next one, but I think it needs to be its own chapter. K, well, enjoy!:)

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Rioko watched silently as Virgil walked out the door. "Haa..." she sighed deeply and began walking back toward her bedroom. As she walked about half-way down the hall, Rie caught her reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. She stopped and became engulfed in the sight of her own dark eyes. She used to know what color they were; but not anymore. Now, their color would change rapidly with her mood. Normally, they would stay their original deep green, but at times, they would now fluctuate from a shadowy black to flame-like red. "Why do I feel so confused?" she asked her reflection. "Why was Virgil so nice to me? Why did I tell him about my past? How could I be so stupid?!" Questions plagued Rie's mind, making her confused and lost in the sight of her own eyes. "What's wrong with me?" she asked again as she tried to shake her head of all the confusing thoughts running through it. Using the wall as a support, Rie slowly walked into her room and collapsed onto her bed. "Why can I think straight anymore? Ever since this morning I can't seem to work anything out." Rie laid on her bed and tried to think until she quietly drifted off to sleep.

Quite a long while later, Rioko finally opened her eyes to find her room dark and the sun setting deep in the sky. "Man, how long was I out?" she asked as she slowly got up from her bed and walked out to her living room. Her mind was still jumbled with confusing thoughts, but for some reason, they seemed more manageable this time. "What happened to me? I wonder if that gas did something to my mind too..." Rie could feel herself changing inside the more she tried to think. Her whole world seemed to be different. Everything looked as if it were in a different light. As the sun set and the room darkened, she felt a strange sensation growing within her. Normally, like anyone's would, her vision would become slightly blurred in the dark. But now, she realized that her sight was becoming unbelievably good as the darkness grew. _Whoa...weird,_ she thought. "I wonder how much that gas really did do to me."

More and more, as the night grew around her, Rioko felt as if she was being pulled into a whole new reality. Her mind, still fragile and plagued with unanswered questions, grew ever unclear as time past. "Maybe some fresh air would help..." Rie grabbed her coat and keys and headed outside; thinking it would help her think. As she walked down the dark street, she stared at the ground and thought deeply about her past and life now. _My life has no purpose, does it?_ she silently asked herself. "Everything I've done...all the things my life has revolved around....they're worth nothing. Maybe...maybe it's not worth fighting anymore. Maybe it would be better if I just...just gave up…" In a now almost utter despair, Rie continued to trudge on through the broken streets; ever searching for a reason to keep on living.

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Well, that's it for this one. Hopefully I'll have the next chap up by the weekend. (And don't worry, it'll be much longer then this one) Later for now! 


	8. Static and the Metabreed

Hey guys. This chap didn't turn out quite as good as I wanted it to, but I guess it works okay. Later on I might come back and re-work some of it. Oh, and for all of you who are wondering when Hotstreak is gonna show up, don't worry...he will. He plays a big partin the story a little further down the road. So just hang in there with me until then!

* * *

In another part of the city, not far from where Rioko was walking, a mysterious gang of metahumans began to rob a bank in the safety of the night.

"Talon! Knock down the door!" yelled a shadow-like metahuman to another.

"You got it boss." the one named Talon looked like a giant bird as she was the size and shape of a normal human girl, but had wing-like arms covered in orange feathers and a face that looked like that of a bird. She flew up close to the oversized door of the bank's vault and let out a loud, ear piercing screech. After only a few moments, the door busted open and the gang was free to steal what they pleased.

"Ha ha...yeah! We're rich!" laughed another member of the gang named Shiv.

"Just shut up and grab the cash. You can celebrate later." again yelled the shadow metahuman.

"Yeah, yeah...relax Ebon. Who's gonna stop us?" Shiv laughed out again.

Just then, as the metahuman gang stuffed all of the vault's cash in the large bags they had brought, another metahuman appeared around the corner. It was Static! Aboard a metal disk he charged with his electric powers, he flew up behind the misfit gang.

"Hey! I believe that would be called stealing, you know?" Static yelled.

"And who do you think you are?" called Ebon as he turned to face Static.

"The name's Static." for show, as he spoke he held up his hands and lit two large balls of pure electricity. "Just your average bangbaby superhero. And you, you are robbing a bank...which is something that I just can't let you do."

"Really...and how are you, one kid, planning on stopping us, the Metabreed?"

"Metabreed, huh? Haha...that's the best you could come up with?" Static laughed as he insulted the gang's name.

"You'll pay for interrupting our pay-day hero!" the enraged Ebon then ordered Talon and Shiv to attack.

Talon quickly swooped up behind Static and attempted to blow him out of the sky with her paralyzing screech. Static dove out of the way, but the sound of the cry was still deafening for a few moments—just long enough for Shiv to sneak up behind Static as he was hovering on his disk low to the ground.

"Got'ya!" Shiv shouted as he grabbed Static from behind. Static yelled in surprise to find the scrawny metahuman holding him down from flying away. "Haha...nice try punk, but I don't think so." Shiv moved his hand up towards Static's neck and instantly morphed it into a long and very sharp blade.

"Man, you should really have that looked at..." Static jerked back as Shiv pulled the blade closer to his neck.

Meanwhile, Rioko continued to slowly trudge on to an unknown destination until her new found hearing picked up the sound of a yell somewhere to the west of her. _I wonder what's going on over there?_ Rie thought as she stared down an alley from where the yell came. She thought for a minute as to whether she really cared, but soon she found herself running down the dark alley in search of the cry. After a few minutes of running through the black alleys, Rie found herself seeing eye to eye with three unfamiliar metahumans and a hero in danger who she knew as Virgil. _Virgil..._ she thought. _I've gotta help him._ Without any further thought, Rioko clenched her fists and instantly ignited a fire around each of them and snuck up behind Shiv, very similar to the way he did Static just seconds before. Just as Shiv was about to end Static's life of heroics permanently, Rie emerged from behind a pile of rubble bank wall and shot a huge fire ball towards the dead center of Shiv's back.

Before he could even hear anything coming towards him, Shiv collapsed from the instant force of the fire blast and allowed Static to go free. Confused as to what had just happened; Ebon, Talon, and Static just stared at the unconscious Shiv as smoke rose from his back.

"What just happened?" Static asked.

After spotting Rie out of the corner of his eye, Ebon pointed towards her and yelled, "There! Talon! Go!! Get that girl!"

_No, Rie...what is she doing here?_ Static asked himself as Talon charged towards her.

Static wanted desperately to stop Talon before she reached Rioko, but Ebon got in the way when he grabbed Static with his extending arm and forced him into combat. Back and forth, Ebon and Static went. At one point, it seemed as Static had won; as he knocked down Ebon with a high energy blast. But it didn't take long for the powerful metahuman to spring back into the fight. _Darn...This guy's strong..._ Static thought as they continued battling.

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Well, that's it for this chap. Not one of my favorites, but oh well. Please review guys!! I'm starting to feel neglected here! Hmm...let me put it this way...please review or I might not post again for a while. Haha...how's that for instentive? K, later for now then;) 


	9. Wings of a Broken Angel

To Victoria Masters: Thank you so much for your review! It was really encouraging for me. I hope you like this chapter just as much:)

To Victoria Wolf: Haha...I know, you never neglect me. Thankx;)

Hey dudes. Here'sanother chapter for ya! Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

On the other side of the street, Talon and Rioko began battling as well. Talon seemed to have the upper hand though; seeing that she could fly and Rie could not. Not really knowing exactly what she was doing, Rie continued to blast bright fire balls at Talon in hopes she could clip her wings.

"Haha...missed me!" Talon mocked as a blast of fire flew past her; lighting up the night sky.

"You really shouldn't be so cocky, fly-girl." Rie said in response.

"Cocky? What do you mean? You're the one who can't aim!"

Rioko grew angry to hear Talon's insults and began to feel a slow growing pain inside her. "We'll see about tha..." Rie paused and gasped at a sudden sharp pain in her back. She tried to fight it, but the pain kept growing and growing until it filled her entire body. "AHH!!" as the pain continued to grow, Rie to drop to her knees and cried out.

"Rioko!" Static and Ebon postponed their fight at hearing her scream. "What's wrong?" Static cried as he rushed to Rie's side.

"What did you do Talon?" Ebon yelled.

"Nothing...I didn't do anything." answered Talon; who was still hovering in the sky above Rie.

Static grew closer to Rioko and tried to put his hand on her shoulder. "Go...away Static..." Rie mumbled through the pain.

"What's happening to you?" he said still trying to draw closer to Rie

"I...I...don't know. Just...back away...please." finally, Static realized it was best and backed off, even though it was against he better judgment.

Static, Ebon, and Talon all watched painfully as Rie yelled in pain and tried to make it through whatever was happening to her. Suddenly, they began to notice a strange black smoke beginning to rise from Rie's skin. The smoke began to grow thicker and thicker until it grew into a black and red flame.

"What's happening to her?" Talon asked.

"I don't kno..." before Static could finish speaking, Rie let out a large cry that sent a chill up his spine.

An odd glow started to emit from Rie's back through the eerie flame. She struggled silently for a few more moments but cried again as another sharp pain plagued her already screaming body. The three onlookers covered their ears from the shattering sound of her pain. As Rie continued to scream, the glow grew brighter and brighter until it exploded into a huge beam of light and fire that engulfed the entire area. Static turned and ran behind a nearby dumpster to escape the blast while Ebon and Talon quickly disappeared from the scene before the blast diminished. The light of the explosion soon faded, leaving only the glow of a streetlight to light up the dark street.

Static stood from his hiding place and slowly began walking towards Rioko. He could barely believe the sight of her as he grew closer. The majority of her looked the same, but his attention was drawn straight towards two huge wings growing from between her shoulder blades. "Whoa..." he said as he made his way to his friend. "Umm…Rie? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay...not sure what just happened though."

"Uhh...well, you've got some wicked wing things growing from your back..."

Rie turned a bit and gasped slightly as she caught sight of the huge wings. "Well...that's different..." The wings looked as the wings of an angel, but broken and slashed throughout. Their color began as black, but as they grew away from Rie's body, they grew lighter and lighter until they reached a light off-white at the very tip. "Hmm...defiantly wasn't expecting that." Rie said as she reached to touch the enormous wings.

"How'd you do that?"

"I really don't know. The last thing I remember thinking was 'I wish I could fly so I could knock fly-girl out of the sky', and then the pain started."

"Well, can you fly?"

Rie shrugged her shoulders and closed her eyes as if to concentrate on learning how to fly. After a few moments of silence, the wings slowly began to move back and forth and soon, Rioko found herself hovering about two feet off the ground. "Whoa...check me out!"

Static stepped back a few steps as Rie began to flap her wings harder and faster until she was soaring above him with the greatest of ease. He watched her fly around for a minute or so and soon found her back at his side on the street. "That is defiantly cool." Rie laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Just how many powers do you have anyway? I mean first there's fire, then shapeshifting, and now this? You got anything else up your sleeve?"

"Actually, I hope not. All these powers are startin' to screw with my head. It's getting hard to tell which feeling is me and which ones are these powers." the smile on Rie's face slowly vanished as she spoke. "Ever since I woke up this morning, my brain feels like a computer about ready to overload."

"Ouch. Anything you wanna talk about?" Static asked gently.

"You know, even though I've seen you just about everyday for the last like six months, I've really only known you for a few hours. Yet..." she paused for a moment as her and Static began walking down the street; getting away from the decimated bank before the police showed up.

"Yet what?" asked Static.

"Yet...I feel like I've known you all my life. Why have you been so nice to me? I mean, you probably have a great life and friends on your side of town. Why would you bother with a worthless kid like me from Downy?"

Static hesitated to answer as he tried to find the right words to use. "First of all, I know you're not worthless, especially not now. And secondly, I guess I just wanted to...that's all."

"Oh...well thanks. It's nice to have someone to talk to again." There was a slightly uneasy silence as the two walked until Rioko finally decided to break it. "Anyway, I wonder if I can make these wings like go away or something or if I'm just stuck with them now."

"I don't know...hey, maybe if you try focusing again like you did before..."

"Yeah...maybe." Rie stopped from walking and gestured for Static to back away since she wasn't sure what would exactly happen. "Kay, here goes..." she stood tall and focused hard on trying to draw back the wings. For at least a minute she stood; silent and motionless until she finally relaxed her now clenched fists and opened her eyes as she let out a deep sigh. "I guess not. Too bad...work's going to be very awkward now." Static laughed slightly, but soon realized the seriousness of Rie's situation as he looked at the sight of her huge wings. "What am I gonna do Virg? I mean, it's not like I can just show up for work tomorrow like nothing happened. And somehow I highly doubt anybody's gonna want a metahuman freak working for them."

"Well...there's still the superhero idea." Static said; trying to be optimistic. "Maybe if you show the city that you're a good bang baby...I'm sure everyone would love for you to work for them if they knew that."

Rie smiled and laughed to herself, "Well, I guess I really don't have much of a choice now, do I?"

"Great! So that's a yes?"

"Yeah Virg...that's a yes." Rie laughed again as Static jumped about in triumph.

"Hmm...now all you need is a name."

"A name? Why do I need that? It's not like I have a secret identity or anything..."

"All heroes need a name! Let's see...something that fits your powers...umm..." Static thought for at least two minutes before he got an idea. "Oh, I got one! What about, Broken Angel?"

"Broken Angel, huh? Well...its sounds just as good as any name to me...yeah...I like it." Rie smiled to think of what the future could hold for her as a hero instead of the nobody as she had been for so many years.

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So, what'd you think?? 


	10. Feathers and Footprints

To Victoria Masters: Thankx so much again for your review! Haha...you make my ego smile:)

To Victoria Wolf: Ha ha...You'll just have to wait and see. MUHAHA!!;)

To Joyfulcry: Thankx alot for your review. I really appreciate it. Oh, and to answer your question, the only reason Talon and Ebon stopped fighting was because they were curious; not worried. Thankx again.

Hi all you peoples!! I know I just thanked you all above, but I just wanted to let you all know again how muchI really appreciate the reviews. Here's another chapter for ya!

* * *

For the next two weeks, Static and Broken Angel (who had become known for changing into a large, black wolf during difficult fights) fought evil of both metahuman and normal human kinds. Ebon and his gang had long since been captured for numerous bank robberies, Rie found a well paying job at a delivery service, and Virgil got back his playful teenage life with some superheroing on the side. Except for the occasional bang baby here and there, all was good. Well, all seemed good anyway.

One day while Broken Angel and Static were on patrol looking for any criminals to stop, Angel herd a strange sound from somewhere on the other side of town. "Yo Static? Did you hear that?"

"Uhh...no...but then again, it wouldn't be the first time you heard something I didn't. What'd it sound like?"

"I don't know...like fire." Static shrugged his shoulders as to say to check it out and both he Broken Angel turned their direction and flew over to where the sound came from. Angel's giant wings allowed her to glide peacefully most of the way as Static soared beside her on his magnetized disk. "I think it came from the other side of that building."

Static and Angel quietly landed on the rooftop of an old abandoned toy factory and peered down the side to the ground where Angel thought the noise had come from. "You see anything?" Static asked.

"Na...maybe they herd us coming." Angel looked up from the ground and into the old warehouse next to them. No sign of anything unusual.

"Huh...well...I guess you could have heard wrong." Static said, letting down his guard and pulling away from the building's edge. "Come on Ang...it was probably just something falling in one of these old buildings or something."

Angel wanted to believe him, but something inside her wouldn't let her. "Maybe, but doubt it. Something's wrong Static...I can feel it."

Static sighed as he realized that he wasn't going to win. "Okay fine. Considering that you're rarely wrong about these things, would it make you feel better if we scoped out these warehouses?"

Angel smiled slightly and climbed onto the ledge bordering the rooftops' edge. "I knew you'd see it my way."

Static sighed again as he watched his friend gracefully dive off the rooftop. "I hate it when you do that!" He yelled down to her; who was already walking on the ground below.

Angel and Static searched through at least three warehouses before they found anything. "Ang! You find anything?" Static yelled as he walked through a dark warehouse.

"Yeah...Static, come here!"

Static rushed over to a small room near where he was walking and found Angel examining an orange bird-like feather. "Look familiar?" Angel asked.

"Isn't that one of Talon's?"

"Think so. She's been here recently."

"But she's in jail...she couldn't have been here." Static took the feather from Angel and began to look over it himself.

"Static, she's a metahuman who most likely has powerful friends that we don't even know about. You didn't think a jail cell was gonna hold her for long, did you?"

"I...I guess never thought of that. Can you tell if she was alone or not?" Static knew that if anyone could track a band of metahumans, it was Angel. Over the last few weeks, he discovered she was extremely talented in tracking anything from a cat to a bus and back again by only a couple of tracks.

"You might want to step back." As Static backed a good few feet away from her, Angel crouched down close to the floor and lit a small fire in her palm. She then laid the flame on the floor, pressed it down between her hand and gently heated the floor tiles until the floor surrounding the area where she had found the feather was glowing a soft red. Static had only see her do this once before, so it was still quite amazing to him to see the floor glowing the way it was. Moments passed and Angel stood from her seated position. Static and her both stared at the floor and soon saw footprints emerge from the glow.

"That has still got to be one of your coolest tricks!" Static laughed as Angel examined the different sets of footprints.

Two of them were hers and Static's; she knew that. But the others...she wasn't sure about them. "One of these looks like Talon," Angel said as she pointed to a print on the floor. "But these other three...I'm not sure about them. These two are probably Shiv and Ebon, considering they're all part of the same gang..."

"Okay, but what about the other one?"

"I don't know. Judging the size and shape, I'd say it was a man...probably around 5'10 in height."

"Okay, so we know Talon's out of jail, which means Ebon and Shiv are probably also. And we also know that they were here for some reason recently and most likely have a new friend." Static stood quietly for a moment as he thought. "Ang...We don't got nothin' do we?"

Angel laughed a bit when she saw the confused look on Static's face. "Well, not nothing. Like you said, we know they're out, which means they're probably up to something. All we have to do is wait until they make they're move and we'll be all over 'em."

"So...we just wait? Shouldn't we try to find them or something?"

"We've got no need to yet. So far, it looks like they're trying to hide. And besides, there's no way to find them anyway. See, the footprints just stop here," Angel said as she pointed to a spot on the still glowing floor. "We have nothing to follow...searching for them would be meaningless."

"Good point. So, now what?"

"Well, didn't you say you had to meet Richey after patrol?"

"Oh crap, yeah! Ang, I gotta go...do you mind?" Static asked franticly, remembering how late he was to meet his friend.

"If I did, I wouldn't have reminded you." Angel said kindly. "Go on. I gotta go to work soon anyway."

"Thanks Rie. Later!" Static jumped on his hover disk and quickly bolted out of the warehouse.

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Well, another chap done. Where's this going anyway?? Haha...you'll just have to wait and see;) Later! 


	11. The Fire

Hey dudes. Another chap up and ready to be read and reviewed for ya. Hope you all enjoy! Oh, and thankx again for all your reviews:)

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"So, if two times pie equals the divided sum of..." the monotonous voice of Mr. Feller quickly caused Virgil to lose his attention on the problem he was learning. He sat half asleep in his mathematics class next to his friends Daisy and Richey and did his best to pay attention. It wasn't easy though. On top of Mr. Feller's voice putting him to sleep; he couldn't seem to get his mind off of what he saw on the news that morning.

_"The infamous metahuman gang called 'The Metabreed' escaped Dakota's high-security prison yesterday afternoon with the help of an unknown metahuman calling himself 'Hotstreak'. We encourage everyone to be careful on the streets until they are captured."_

The reporter's words ran over and over in Virgil's mind. There was no video footage of the escape, but the police described this 'Hotstreak' as being a red and blonde haired metahuman with the power to create and control fire. _Francis...it's gotta be._ Virgil's attention was drawn to the window next to him as he thought. _Why do I have a feeling that this can't end good? _

Just then, as he was aimlessly staring out the window, he heard a large explosion and saw a huge pillar of smoke arise from a few blocks away. At first he thought it was just a fire that the firemen could handle on their own. But as soon as he began to hear numerous sirens of everything from police cars to ambulances, he knew Static was probably needed. Thinking quickly, he thought of a good excuse to get him out of class.

"Mr. Feller?" Virgil called as he stood from his chair and grabbed his backpack.

"Yes, Virgil?" Mr. Feller's dull voice answered.

"May I be excused?"

"What is it this time?" his voice was obviously agitated.

"Well, I thought that meat had a strange green hint to it, but I decided to eat it anyway..." Virgil stopped purposely in mid sentence to pretend like he was going to throw up.

"Okay, okay, just go...Quickly!" Mr. Feller exclaimed as Virgil ran out of the class room.

_Well, that was close._ Virgil thought, running out of one of the school's back doors. He jolted into an alley near the school and quickly changed into his costume. As Static, he pulled out his flying disk and flew as fast as he could to the area where the smoke was rising. Upon reaching the block, he saw an old abandoned building being engulfed in flames despite the efforts of the firemen.

"Static!" Static turned in looked under him where he saw a policeman yelling up to him. "Your partner is still in there!"

Static's eyes grew wide in fear to hear such news. "What?! Why is she in there?"

"She was fighting the Metabreed, but I don't know now."

Without thinking any further, Static charged up his disk and glided forward into an open window of the building. The fire was burning bright all around him; he knew the building would not hold for long as its support beams and rafters were burning slowly in the heated flames. "Angel!" he called over and over, but there was no response. As he made his way through the burning debris in the room, Static was beginning to fear the worst. "No...no, she can't be...she's practically made of fire...she's gotta be okay." Thoughts ran through his mind faster then he could bearably understand them. "Rioko! Where are you?!" he called again. Still no answer.

Static wasn't about to give up, but he knew the fire growing around him would soon become unbearable. But just then, as all hope was becoming lost, a loud crash and pile of debris rained down in front of him. Static peered through the turned up dust and allowed a smiled of joy come over his face to see his partner standing before him, safe and unharmed. Well, relatively speaking that is. Her arms and face were covered in scratches and her clothes were tattered and burned; but all in all, she was fine.

Static's joy soon diminished though when he noticed an unconscious Shiv hanging over her shoulder and a bound Ebon being dragged behind her. "Hey bro. A little help?" Angel asked wearily.

Upon seeing her tired smile, Static knew Angel needed his help. "Yeah, here let me help," he took Shiv from her shoulder and pulled Ebon along with a static charge. "Umm...Ang, I think we should get out of here." Static said after hearing the floor above them creak violently.

"I agree. This way!" Angel pulled a flaming force field over herself and Static to keep them safe from any falling debris and quickly led him out of the flaming building by means of a back door.

The very moment they reached the street outside the building, a deafening crash was heard within the building; no doubt the floor that they were just a minute ago standing under. A group of policemen and medics rushed toward the two heroes and their 'baggage' as soon as they caught sight of them. A special team of medics took Shiv and Ebon into their custody and headed off to a guarded hospital while another tried to look over Static and Angel for any major injuries. Angel didn't appreciate that.

Just as soon as she was sure Static was okay, Angel pushed the medic beside her away with one of her wings and took off flying high into the air without a word. "Angel! Wait! Where are you going?!" Static yelled after her.

Once realizing that she wouldn't answer, he quickly thanked the medics helping him with some minor burns and flew off after her. "Angel?!" he called, trying to catch up with her ever increasing speed. "What'd you do that for?"

"Go back to school Virgil. This doesn't concern you." Angel spoke without even looking her concerned friend in the eye.

"Actually it does. See, you're my partner, and not acting like yourself right now."

"What do you know about how I act? You know nothing about me other then some bad memories."

Static knew she was right, but still, he knew something was wrong. "Rie, this is about Hotstreak isn't it?"

Rie halted in mid-air and hovered in front of Virgil with her eyes towards the ground. "Yes. He's Francis."

Static cautiously moved closer to his friend and put a hand on her shoulder, being mindful of the scratches. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

The young metahuman just stared at the ground for a few moments and finally lifted her head and began flying off again. "Follow me." she said simply.

Angel led Static in silence for about five minutes when she stopped upon reaching the top ledge of a tall business building. The two superheroes sat down with their legs hanging over the edge, just staring out over Dakota.

The awkward silence that hovered over them for so long was finally lifted by Static. "So, is there a reason you brought me here?"

Rie sat completely exhausted from the previous battle with her back leaning up against the building and her wings spread out behind her. "You know...this actually started out as a good day." She laughed sarcastically.

Even though Static had grown fairly close to Rioko over the last few weeks, he still had a hard time following her sometimes. "What do you mean?"

Rie sighed deeply before she spoke again. "I saw him Virgil. He's the one who started the fire."

"What happened Rie?"

"I was patrolling, like I normally do. I heard a fight going on in a nearby building so I went to check it out. I saw through a window that Talon and Shiv were arguing with Ebon over some meaningless topic. I wasn't going to pay any mind to them, but then a large fireball came flying through the building's side. It was Hotstreak. Him, Talon and Shiv were all arguing with Ebon. I knew I had to stop him before he hurt someone, but for some reason, I just froze. I couldn't move Virg...people on the sidewalk were in danger, and I froze!" Rie paused to regain the composer she was gradually losing and continued.

"I managed to build up enough to intervene; you can see how much good that did me." Static gave her that confused look again as she spoke. "Shiv and Ebon were easy enough to stop, and Talon escaped, but Hotstreak...Francis, was another story. I tried to fight him, but I couldn't. He tried to kill me and I couldn't even lay a finger on him! As soon as he heard the cops outside he started to set the place on fire. I tried to diminish it, but there was too much...I couldn't hold it all. Francis got away and the only thing left on my mind was getting myself, Shiv, and Ebon out of there."

Static sat next to her, trying to think of something to say. "You did everything you could. We'll get them next time." He tried to be encouraging, but he knew it wasn't helping much.

"I don't know Virg...what if I freeze again?"

"You won't." Virgil said as he put a caring arm around Rie's shoulder.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Cuz next time, I'll be there." Rie smiled at Static's words and told him that he should probably get back to school before his teacher thought he died in the bathroom or something. Static hesitated to leave her alone, but eventually, he did go.

Rioko sat for a long time on that ledge before she built up the strength to fly home. It was around seven o'clock in the evening when she finally entered through her door. She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a water-soaked dish towel before settling down on her couch. She winced at the pain shooting up from her arm as she cleaned up the cuts and scrapes covering it. Just as she finished, she heard her cell phone ring. She jumped up and ran to the kitchen counter where her phone was resting. "Yeah?" she said as she answered.

"Hey Rie, Virg." Virgil said through the line.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I need you to meet me at the old pier down at gate 52."

"Sure. Why?"

"I think I found out where Talon and Hotstreak are hiding."

* * *

DumDumDum...haha...nice little cliff hanger for ya;)Later! 


	12. Revenge

To Victoria Wolf: Just be patient, you'll see;) Please stick with me though! I promise it'll all get explained soon. Chapter 14's gonna be all for Hotstreak. (Just don't get mad at me for this chap...you'll know why once you read it) Oh, also, you'll notice in this chap that Hotstreak calls Rioko 'Rio' at one point. Well, I wanted to thank you for giving me the idea for that nickname in one of your reviews. So, yeah...thankx:) 

To Lobo-Chan: Thank you so much for your review! It makes me feel good to now people like it:) Oh, and to answer your question, no. Gear won't be in it. This fic only takes place during the first few months after the big bang; Gear's not around yet. Hmmm...if this story goes well, I might put him in a sequal though.

To joyfulcry: Thankx again for your review; I'm glad you're still enjoying it.

'Sup dudes? Here's another chap for ya. Later.

* * *

Rioko quickly changed from her tattered and burned clothes and hurried off the meet Virgil down at the old pier. The sun was almost completely set in the sky now, so Rie could easily see the purple glow coming from Static's flying disk about twenty feet in front of her. "Good timing." Static said as Rie flew up close to him. 

"You said you know where Hotstreak is?"

It was obvious to Virgil that she was in no mood for small talk just by looking at her shadowy black eyes. "Yeah, I got a tip that he was seen with Talon going into that warehouse over there." Static pointed to a nearby warehouse and soon noticed Rie taking off towards it. "Wait! Rie, what are you planning on doing? You can't just barge in there!"

"Watch me. They almost got a lot of people hurt today...including me."

"No wait! I know you want revenge, but you can't just go in there and start fighting! Who knows what kind of weaponry they've got in there." Rioko turned and faced Static as he spoke. Just the look on her face made him jump. Her eyes were burning a bright flame red that Static felt were peering into his very soul with a greater anger then he had ever seen or felt before.

"I don't care. Stay here if you want to, but I'm going and you can't stop me." At that, Rie turned again and shot off toward the warehouse.

Upon arriving there, she stared quietly into a broken window in attempt to locate the two felons. Static carefully came up behind being cautious not to make Rie even more angry then she already was. Together they looked into the warehouse until they finally caught sight Hotstreak and Talon. Just as Rie was about to break in and destroy their seemingly calm evening, Static grabbed her arm and gently spoke, "Be careful. Don't do anything you're gonna regret." Rie said nothing in response, but Static knew but the slight smile on her face that she understood.

Relaxing her tense wings, Rioko allowed herself to slowly fall down to the ground below. Static followed closely behind as Rie charged up a magnificent ball of shadowy fire and hurled it towards the locked warehouse door. "What the hell was that?" Hotstreak yelled as the once locked door blew inward at the force of the fireball.

"Fun's over kids, time to go home!" Static yelled.

"What are you doing here Static?" Talon asked impatiently.

"What do you think, Feathers? I'm here to reunite you with your friends...in jail!" Static charged towards Talon, leaving Broken Angel and Hotstreak alone to work out their own battle.

"So, you want another beating, huh?" Hotstreak laughed.

Angel snickered at his comment and ignited a large fire on her hand. "You haven't changed a bit Francis."

Hotstreak didn't quite know what to make of being called by his real name, but his expression said that he was more insulted then anything. "My name's Hotstreak. Do I know you?"

"If you don't even recognize me, then it doesn't matter." Angel's stance and facial expression made Hotstreak think she was wrathful and ready to attack, but under her skin, it broke her heart to hear that her own brother didn't even know who she was.

"Good. Then getting rid of your will be just that much easier!" Hotstreak charged toward Angel with a fiery fist ready to hit whatever came in its way. "Get ready to feel the burn kid!"

Rie watched intently as Hotstreak charged toward her. She never moved; just stood, bracing herself for the attack.

Hotstreak yelled as he came in closer to Angel; ready to burn her to the ground...or so he thought. He flew his fiery fist aiming for Rie's face, but soon found himself hitting only air. At the split moment he was distracted, Angel appeared behind him from a veil of shadow and flung an impressive fireball at him. The force of the blast sent him falling to the ground; but her victory was short lived. He stood back on his feet nearly as quickly as he had fallen and re-prepared himself to fight. "Nice shot sweetie. Too bad I'm immune to fire!" Hotstreak laughed to himself for a moment to see the angered expression on his opponent's face.

"Yeah, but I bet that's all you're immune to, isn't it? You'll pay for what you did to me!!" Rie knew that most likely, the only way to beat him was to use her darker powers of shadow and shapeshifting. Hotstreak backed away from Angel as she became engulfed in the shadowy flame that had haunted her so many times before.

"What the..." the look on his face grew almost frightened as he saw Rie disappear into the flame, leaving a large black wolf growling in her place. "Wha...what h-happened to the girl?" Hotstreak stuttered as the wolf threw back its head and growled; showing its impressively large teeth.

In a state of almost paralyzing fear of the shadowy black wolf's piercing red eyes, Hotstreak launched a continuous assault of fireballs at it until he was nearly exhausted. Believing the strange wolf must have been dead by now, Hotstreak laughed at his seemingly easy victory. "Stupid wolf...I can't believe I actually thought it was a threat!"

"I am." Hotstreak jumped as he heard the deep snarl from behind him. He turned quickly and flared two more balls of fire into the shadows of the warehouse. "Missed me." he heard it snicker.

"Come out and show yourself!" Hotstreak yelled cautiously.

"Suit yourself." the wolf jumped out of the shadows now in front of Hotstreak and attacked him head on. His heart skipped a beat as the wolf pushed him over and pinned him to the cold dirt ground. He yelled in pain as the wolf extended its sharp knife-like claws and pressed them into his shoulders.

"Get off of me you freak!" Hotstreak wrapped his hands around the wolf's front legs and attempted to burn them off her chest.

Rioko's wolf form snarled and laughed slightly at Hotstreak's weak attempt. "You really think fire's gonna hurt me? Ha...pathetic. You've grown even weaker then I thought."

Hotstreak tried to hold his composure, but the second he caught sight of the burning eyes of the creature on top of him, his heart sank deep into his chest and fear almost overtook him completely. He had said to many people that death didn't scare him, but all of the sudden; the thought of dying threatened to nearly tear him apart. His eyes widened as he watched the wolf growl and move in closer to his face. In his mind, it was the end...there was nothing he could do.

On the other side of the warehouse, Static had just succeeded in knocking Talon unconscious. He was finishing tying her securely to a nearby metal pole incase she woke up when he heard Hotstreak yell. He looked up and saw Rie in her wolf form threatening to kill the defenseless teen. Part of him didn't want to interfere, but he was quickly overpowered by the knowledge that he had to stop her from killing her own brother. He grabbed his disk and flew over next to the enraged wolf. "Okay Angel, I think you won. You can get off of him now."

"Back off Static. This is none of your concern!" the wolf growled.

"Yeah, you keep telling me that lately. Look, I know you're angry, but it's not worth it. Let him go....Rioko...please."

Hotstreak felt the wolf's claws ease off his torn shoulders. She was letting him go...or so he thought. Hotstreak began to try and pull himself out from under Rioko's strong grip, but as he did, she quickly changed her mind and reassumed her position on top of him. "Whoa lady...what'd I ever do to you?"

Static knew that was the wrong question to ask. "Uhh...you might not wanna push it right now Hothead." he paused and knelt down beside the two. "Rie, please let him go. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

Static waited for a moment for any response from Rie, but all she did was growl and tear further into Hotstreak's shoulders with her claws. "Alright then, have it your way." Static pulled away and cautiously charged an electric attack. Without any further thought, he aimed a huge beam of electricity towards Rie and shocked her until she was pushed away from Hotstreak and he could feel there was no fighting strength left in her. He finished his attack and watched as the wolf fell back into the shadow flame and changed back into an unconscious Rioko. "Sorry Rie...you didn't give me any choice."

With Static's attention drawn to his friend, Hotstreak saw it his opportunity to get away. He quietly stood up and began sneaking toward the door behind him. Upon reaching the doorway of his freedom, Hotstreak turned around to see the girl who had, only moments before, threatened his life and it finally clicked. _Wait...Rioko?? Could it be...Rio?_ he thought deeply, looking for a resemblance between his previous opponent and the little sister he once knew as 'Rio'. _No...it couldn't be...she's in Gotham. Could it?_ Hotstreak would have looked into his confused thoughts more, but he knew he had to disappear before Static had a chance to look for him.

Meanwhile, Static quickly made sure Rioko wasn't injured too seriously. She looked so peaceful lying there. "Too bad she can't always be this calm." Static said to himself. "Hotstreak!" up till then, Static had only thought of Rie, but suddenly he remembered that Hotstreak was still a threat. He turned and searched for any sight of the red-head. "Darn. He's gone. Guess I'll have to get him next time...maybe without Rie there though."

Static sighed deeply and turned back to his fallen friend. "What am I gonna do with you?" he asked as he bent down and gently picked her up being mindful of her giant wings.

Just as he was about to leave, Static her a voice yell to him. "Hey Sparky! Don't just leave me here!!" a now conscious Talon struggled violently in attempt to break free from her chains.

"Oh, right. I'll call the cops on my way out and tell 'em you're here." At that he jumped back on his disk and left out the door he came in, leaving Talon screaming insults after him. As he flew through the city, Static called one of his police friends about Talon and proceeded to carry Rioko back to her home nestled deep in the heart of Downy Ville; the one part of Dakota where Static was not much welcome. He cautiously swept over the dark alleys and headed in through one of the open windows of Rie's apartment. He hopped off his disk and walked into Rie's bedroom where he gently laid her down on her bed.

He wanted to stay with her that night to make sure she didn't do anything stupid when she awoke, but he knew he couldn't. "Pops'll kill me if I don't get home soon." He bent over and gently brushed a rouge piece of hair off his friend's face. "Sleep well." After staring at her sleeping form for a few more moments, Static turned and left; heading straight home.

* * *

So, are you guys still liking this?? 


	13. Motives

To Lobo-Chan: Hmmm...an attraction between Static and Angel. I don't know...maybe. Now that you've put the idea in my head, you'll never know what could happen;) 

To Victoria Masters: Thankx alot for your review. Haha...I like the 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned':)

Hi guys. Another chap for ya. Enjoy:)

Disclaimer: Just to be safe, so no body can sue me or anything, I saddly do not own the name of "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude." Maybe someday though.

* * *

Late the next morning, Virgil woke in his bed with a slight pain in his back from carrying his unconscious friend half way across town the night before. "I've gotta start working out more." He groaned as he got out of bed. It was Saturday. Virgil's personal favorite day of the week.

"Baby brother! Your breakfast is ready!" Virgil winced at the thought of his sister's cooking as he got dressed.

Slowly, he made his way down the staircase and into the kitchen of his family's home. "Morning Sharon." he yawned when he saw his sister eating breakfast at kitchen table.

"You look tired." Sharon said, looking up from her plate.

"Yeah...had a rough day yesterday. Hmm...egg surprise, huh?" Virgil snickered as he saw his plate of runny looking eggs.

Sharon usually would make some witty reply to Virgil's taunts about her cooking, but lately, she had been more preoccupied with worry over her brother's constantly tired expression. "What do you do all the time Virgil? You're always tired lately."

"Umm..." Virgil fumbled around in his thoughts; trying to come up with an excuse that didn't involve his secret identity. "School's just been real hectic lately, that's all."

"Oh, okay. What are you planning on doing today?"

"I'm gonna hang with Richie for a while and then we're gonna go see a movie tonight." this really was what Virgil was planning on doing; he just left out the part about going to talk to Rie after breakfast since he didn't want Sharon to know anything about his friends or life as Static.

"Okay. Just make sure you keep your phone on this time." Sharon said, more like ordered, as she stood and put her empty plate in the dishwasher.

"Yes maim." Virgil replied sarcastically. "Oww!" he yelled seconds later after a slap upside his head from his older sister. "What?"

"Stop mocking me." Sharon said sternly before leaving the kitchen.

"Stupid. Who invented older sisters anyway?" Virgil muttered under his breath.

After he finished his breakfast and cleaned up his dishes, Virgil said goodbye to his dad and left. As he walked closer to Rioko's home, Virgil started getting nervous as to what he would say to her. _Ahh...what are you doing Virg? You know she's gonna hate you for what you did last night._ Virgil held a small argument within himself. _Maybe she'll understand. Ahh, who am I kidin'? She's gonna hate me._ Upon drawing this conclusion, he hung his head and sighed as he stared at the cracked sidewalk underneath him.

Nearly ten minutes later, his friend's apartment building came in sight. "Here we go..." Virgil sighed and began walking up the old, broken stairs to her apartment. _Knock, Knock._ Virgil must have knocked four times before he realized she wasn't going to answer. "Come on Rie...please open the door." he begged quietly.

He was just about to give up when he finally heard the door unlock. The door creaked open; much like the first time he visited that old place. "What do you want?" he heard a soft, yet angry voice ask. Virgil looked up from the floor and placed the familiar voice with its owner.

"Hi Rie. Can we talk?" Virgil already knew what her answer would be by just looking at her weary and wrathful expression. She didn't want to talk. Or did she?

"Come in." much to Virgil's surprise, Rie moved aside and let him in.

After walking in and hearing Rie shut the door behind him, Virgil turned so that he was looking his friend in her eyes; which were still a calm green. "Rie, I..."

Rioko cut him off by raising her hand slightly before he could finish. "Virg...thank you." she said in a soft, somewhat raspy voice.

"Wha? You're thanking me?" Virgil was literally stunned. He thought she was going to lash out in a fit of anger. But no, she stayed completely calm.

"Look Virgil, if you hadn't been there...I...I would have killed him. I didn't want to...it's just...every time I see him, everything inside me is consumed by this uncontrollable rage. I couldn't help it." finally, Rie began to break down. Virgil had never seen Rie cry before, but he was almost glad when he saw tears begin to fall from her sad eyes. "I couldn't help it...I'm so sorry," Rie said quietly as Virgil pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"It's okay. You have every right to be angry with him."

"Not like this...I can't control it anymore V, I just can't." Virgil pulled away from her and gently wiped a tear from her cheek.

"Come here, sit down." he lead her to the couch near them and sat Rie down next to him. "What can't you control?"

Rioko did the best she could to recompose herself as she spoke. "The last couple weeks, I've been having a lot of trouble controlling my anger. Every time I get mad, I lose control. It's the same thing that happened last night."

"But I thought...from the way you talked about Hotstreak before, you never seemed really angry at him. Was all that just from what happened at the fire?"

"Virg...I may have left a few things out about my past."

Virgil sighed. In his mind, he had thought that was probably the case, but he really hoped it wasn't. "Like what?"

"After Francis left that night in Gotham, life got really hard. Since I was still a kid, I couldn't get a job, and I didn't want to go to some orphanage, so I lived on the streets. I took shelter wherever I could and resorted to stealing to survive. I lived like that for six years until I was old enough to make my way alone to Dakota without causing any suspicions. I was even part of a gang for a while. Point is Virg, Francis ruined my life. And even though I still do love him deep down, that doesn't change what he made my life become."

Virgil sat next to her, just listening; not sure what to say. Rie continued, "It's weird. Ever since the big bang, everything inside me is twisted. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore...or why I even want to find Francis in the first place. Part of me never wants to see his cocky face again, another wants to kill him, and even another just wants him to be there for me again."

"Rie..." Virgil began, "You've had a hard life...Harder then any I could ever imagine. But I do know that you're a really good person despite that. Maybe all you need is a little more time adjusting to being a bang baby and knowing your bro is in the same city." he paused as Rie looked at him with a confused expression. "What I mean is, maybe you should take a break for a little while. Give yourself some time to clear your head. I don't want you to end up doing anything you'll regret again."

Rioko sighed deeply, "Yeah...maybe you're right. You know what the worst part is though?"

"What?"

"He didn't even recognize me." even though she wanted to hold it back, another tear fell from Rie's eyes as she spoke.

As hard as Virgil tried, he couldn't find any words to say that would help. All he could do was wrap his arm around her shoulder and try to be the best comfort he could. "Hey," Virgil began to speak after a few minutes. "Rich and I are gonna go hang out at the gas station for a while, why don't you come along? Get your mind off it for a while...we'll even go get some burgers...my treat."

Rie thought for a minute before answering, "Yeah, sure. That sounds good." she smiled a bit and continued, "Virg, thanks."

Virgil smiled to see his friend looking happy again. "No prob Rie. Its what I'm here for." Rie then stood from the couch leaving Virgil sitting alone as she told him she was going to go change.

As Rioko changed in her room, Virgil decided to get a little nosey and look around a bit. As he already knew, there wasn't much to the small apartment. One bedroom, one bath, a small kitchen and living room, and one closet near the door. There was one thing that grabbed Virgil's attention though. He walked over to a small shelf nailed to the wall. On it was an old photograph that looked like it had been in a fire; as its edges were slightly burned and the color was distorted in some areas. He carefully lifted up the frame and examined the photo. It was of a family; Rioko's, by the looks of it. There was a tall, red-haired man on one side, smiling genuinely up at the little black-haired girl on his shoulders. And next to them was a beautiful young woman, laughing happily with a small red and blonde-haired boy that looked to be a few years older then the little girl.

While Virgil stared deeply at the photo, Rie emerged from her bedroom. "It was taken the day my parents were killed. I like to keep it as a memory of the time when I had a family."

Virgil looked up at his friend as she walked up next to him. "If you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"

Rie knew that he would ask that one day, but it didn't make it any easier to tell him. "We were at a park having a picnic. Francis was playing tag with me while my ma and dad got the food ready," even though she smiled as she spoke, Virgil could easily see that it was still hard for her to talk about her long-lost family. "Francis chased me off behind some bushes and we started playing hide-and-seek. Everything was great until the sound of gunshots filled the air. Francis and I both ran out of the bushes to where our parents were. Francis reached them before me, so he grabbed me before I could see what had happened. To this day, I still don't know who killed them or why."

"I'm so sorry." Virgil said, immediately regretting ever letting is curiosity take the best of him. Rie just nodded and smiled slightly as Virgil tried to change the subject. "Was this in a fire?"

"You could say that. My uncle tried to burn it once when he was dunk. Francis was able to save it for me before it was completely destroyed."

Virgil watched as Rie sighed deeply when she took the picture from him and brushed her finger over the younger version of her brother. "It'll work out..." he said, as if reading Rie's thoughts before she even had a chance to speak.

"Yeah..." she spoke quietly after placing the picture back in its place on the shelf. After a brief moment of silence, Rie quickly cleared her throat and spoke, "So, should we get going?"

"Yeah sure, let's go." At that, Virgil lead the way as the two left the apartment and headed across town to an old abandoned gas station Virgil and Richey had declared as their "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude," or headquarters for Static and official place of hang-out.


	14. The Heart of a Brother

To Victoria Wolf: Whoa, whoa...relax will ya dude! If you go back to where I said that at the beginning of chap 12, you'll see that I told you "**CHAPTER 14's** gonna be all for Hotstreak." Not 13, 14...in other words, I never lied...you just read wrong. This chapter is for Hotstreak, not the last. Goodness...well I hope you like this one anyway:) 

Hey guys, I know...I updated a little sooner this time then I usually do, but hey, this is a fairly short chap and it's done, so I figured what the heck and posted it. I hope you like.

* * *

Meanwhile, while Rioko and her two friends enjoyed themselves at the small gas station, Hotstreak sat in deep thought on a couch in his apartment back in Downy Ville. Surprisingly, he and Rioko didn't live very far away from each other, but it was just far enough to where they never crossed paths. His apartment looked quite similar to Rie's as well. It was old and rundown; filled with a few pieces of furniture and a couple tables. The only difference was that his was much dirtier then that of his younger sister's. Hotstreak obviously wasn't the type to clean. 

"Could it really be you Rio?" Hotstreak asked as he stared at an old, torn picture of his little sister when she was only a child. He had been running old memories of her through his mind all morning trying to find some striking resemblance. _Their hair is the same...but that's it. Oh Rio...I don't know if I want it to be you or not. _Hotstreak thought, _But it was you, wasn't it? Your eyes were so full of hate...so full of pain. But they were still your eyes. What happened to you?_ he sighed as he thought again of the memory of the little girl he left so long ago. _You used to be so happy; so carefree. Even when times where bad. But now you..._ his mind trailed off in thought as he remembered what the teen he knew as Angel said to him the night before. "You'll pay for what you did to me!" rang over and over in his mind.

"What have I done?" Hotstreak asked out loud. He knew he never should have left his little sister the way he did those many years ago. "I messed up big time now. Stupid Francis!" he yelled at himself. _Why on Earth didn't you recognize her before! It figures. The one person I care about...and I hurt her so much, she wants to kill me._ As he thought, all Hotstreak could do was run through his mind that fateful day he so wished he could forget.

The deeper he thought, the harder it became to control his emotions. "Why did you have to come to Dakota?" he asked quietly as he felt a tear burn the corner of his eye. "Why? Why couldn't you have just stayed away like I told you to?" He broke away from his thought when he felt a sharp pain in his shoulders from the wounds he had received the night before. _I gotta admit, she has become pretty powerful for just a kid. _Hotstreak laughed to himself as he wrapped a bandage around his bare, blood stained shoulder.

"Hungry." he thought suddenly; realizing he hadn't eaten since early the previous day. Hotstreak groaned as he stood and stretched his aching muscles. He was certainly quite fit as could be seen from his strong muscles, flexing back and forth as he moved. He ran his fingers through his spikey hair as he walked over to his kitchen where he reached into his refrigerator for a couple eggs and some cheese to make an omelet with. As he stirred the eggs in a frying pan on the stove, Hotstreak's attention was again drawn back to the memory of that night.

_"France? Are you going somewhere?" the little girl asked when she saw him walk out of his room with a stuffed backpack in hand. "Are you okay?" she asked again when the older boy in front of her wouldn't answer. _

_"Rioko, I have to go now." the boy said as he bent down next to the girl. _

_"Why? Where are you going?" she asked nervously. _

_The boy wanted to answer, but all he could manage to do was smile sadly and softly brush the younger girls' cheek. "I'm sorry." he said; pulling her into a warm hug. _

_"What's wrong Francis? Why are you crying?" the girl began to shake as she felt one of her brother's tears wet the back of her shoulder._

_"I love you." he said simply; fighting to hold back the tears burning his deep green eyes._

_"What? Why..." the little girl stopped before asking another question as the boy slowly stood and began to turn away from her. _

_"Goodbye my dear little sister." _

_The young girl watched as another tear fell from her older brother's soft green eyes and began to cry as he walked away. "Francis? Francis where are you going? Please...don't leave me! Please...don't go..." _

_The boy pulled open the door and ran down the stairway of his old apartment before his sister could follow. He could feel his heart breaking in two as he heard the little girl cry after him. "I'm so sorry..."_

Hotstreak was quickly pulled out of his trance when his keen sense of smell began to pick up the sent of burning eggs. "Crap!" he jumped slightly as his mind was pulled harshly back into reality. "Stupid stove...burnt my breakfast." he quickly grabbed a plate he had set out on the counter and scraped the half-burnt eggs onto it. _Perfect,_ he thought. "Oh well...at least it's food." Hotstreak took his plate and a beer from the fridge and walked back over to his couch. As he ate, he scrunched up his nose whenever he got a taste of the burnt ingredients. _Note to self: Never daydream while cooking...

* * *

_

Okay, so there was Hotstreak's chap. From here on out, he starts becoming a pretty vital character. Well...after the next chapter he does anyway. So, I hate to ask this again, but oh well...I have low self esteem when it comes to my writing;) Anyway, are you guys still enjoying this? If there is anything wrong with it, please let me know. And I don't mean grammar stuff...I mean like flaws in the story and stuff. Don't get me wrong though, I don't want any flames, just like constructive criticism if there's anything you guys see that could use adjusting. Thankx alot. Later. 


	15. Evil Plans Revealed

To joyfulcry: Thankx alotfor your review...I really appreciate it:)

To Darkbusterrancher: Thankx so much! It's good to know that there are others out there who like my story too:) As for your suggestions, thanks alot. I'll definitely keep that in mind. The only thing is, this particular fic is only going to take place over the first few months after the big bang, so Gear's not around yet, and the second Big Bang is still years off. Thankx again though!

To Victoria Wolf: Ahh...don't worry about it. How do they say? It's water under the bridge...not to worry. Just don't do it again:) Haha...anyway, I thought you might like that chapter...I know I had fun writing it;)

Hey guys. Okay, finally...the chapter where the story actually begins! Enjoy!

* * *

Back at the "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude", Rioko and Virgil were laughing so hard it made their stomachs sore as they watched one of Richey's newest inventions backfire and cover him with bubble gum. "Yuck! Who ever thought a bubble gum machine could get so sticky" Richey said as he examined his gum-covered clothes.

"Hahaha! You...you look like a...Haha!" Virgil was overcome with laugher to see his friend in the sticky pink goo.

"Oh ha ha...very funny." Richey laughed sarcastically.

"You have to admit Rich, it was funny..." Rie added through a small laugh while she picked a piece of rouge gum out of her hair. "Well guys, this was fun, thanks."

The smile on Virgil's face slowly diminished as Rie stood from her seat on a bar stool and grabbed her coat. "You don't have to go yet Rie, do ya?"

"Yeah, I still wanna test out my 'rocket boots'." Richey added; still peeling the gum off his shirt.

Rie sighed a bit and put on her jacket; absentmindedly sliding her wings through slits she had made in it specifically for them. "Haha...Well, I'm sorry I'm gonna miss that Rich, but I do have to go. I've gotta go on patrol for a bit and stop at the store on the way home to pick up some milk and stuff. Thanks for the wonderful day though. I enjoyed it."

"No prob Rie. You know you're always welcome to hang with us." Virgil said kindly.

"Yeah, we should do this more often." Richey again added to Virgil's comment.

"Thanks a lot guys. Virg, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yep. I'll meet up with ya for patrol around two on top of Media, kay?" Virgil asked as he walked Rie to the door.

"Sounds good. See ya then." Rie waved back to Richey and said goodbye to Virgil before taking off in flight.

"Good kid." Richey said simply as Virgil plopped back down in his spot on the sofa in the middle of the room.

"Yeah...I'm worried about her though."

Richey's face showed a slight bit of concern when he heard his best friend's voice drop from its usual happy-go-lucky tone to a deeper, worried one. "Why? She seems like she's doin' pretty good in the hero business to me."

"It's not that."

"Then what?"

"She's having trouble dealing with some issues from her past and it's startin' to get me a little concerned." Richey raised his eyebrow in curiosity as Virgil spoke. "Rich, don't tell her I told you this, but Hotstreak's her bro dude."

"Oh...so that's why she got all depressed looking when I brought up that fire from yesterday."

"Yeah." Virgil sighed.

"V, am I sensing that you're starting to like Rie a little more then just as your 'partner'?"

"What" Virgil stuttered a bit. "N...No...I'm just worried about her cuz she's my friend...that's all."

Richey smiled. "Uhhuh...sure."

Virgil blushed and tried to think of a reply to his friend's taunt. "What? She is...my friend. I can be concerned about her if I want to..."

"Haha...okay, okay V-man, relax. I won't tell." Richey winked at Virgil before quickly changing the subject.

Later that day, Virgil and Richey decided to go see a movie at the theater about ten minutes walk from them. As they mindlessly enjoyed the movie in a loud theater, sirens filled the air outside along with the repetitive sound of helicopter blades spinning in the wind. "It's the Metabreed. They've broken out of jail again" A policeman yelled over the radio.

"How? I thought they were under heavy lockdown." another asked in reply.

"They were. But they managed to break free somehow."

"Did they have help?" another cop joined in on the two-way conversation.

"Not that we can see. All we know is that they're gone. Just vanished into thin air." the first cop replied again with a slight sense of fear in his voice.

The police frantically searched for any signs of the Metabreed; covering almost every alley, street, even sewer line in the city. But there was one place none of them thought to look. The old 8th Street subway line was abandoned and thought to be buried under twenty feet of rubble from an explosive that was set off there a long time ago. To normal human eyes, nothing could survive down there...not even metahumans. Too bad for them they were very wrong.

Hidden behind a thick wall of stone and debris, there was an entire safe house filled with everything a growing criminal would need. Food, beer, money, even weapons. Everything any metahuman would need was stored there. And it all belonged to one very powerful criminal. Ebon. Some what weary from the battle they recently fought to escape from jail, again, Ebon and his gang of misfit bang babies relaxed and basked in their victory behind the walls of the safe house.

"When will those stupid cops learn? They can't keep us locked up!" Shiv laughed.

"Shut up Shiv. I'm thinking." Ebon growled from the other side of the large room.

Shiv stood from his seat and walked over to Ebon who was sitting at a table, drawing out some kind of plan. "Come on Ebon. We just escaped from jail for the second time in one week! I think you should loosen up a bit."

"Shiv's right" Talon walked over next to their leader. "We deserve to celebrate a little bit."

"Not tonight. Can either of you tell me why we ended up back in jail" Ebon questioned.

"Uhhh...Static and Angel?" Shiv knew he answered wrong when he saw Ebon's white eyes narrow angrily.

"No you idiot. Hotstreak. He betrayed us all and landed us back in jail."

Talon crossed her wing-like arms and sat in a chair near Shiv. "What are you getting at?"

"That hothead has to pay for crossing us." Ebon stated simply.

"Umm...how?" Shiv asked cautiously; not wanting to further anger the noticeably enraged metahuman.

"Easy. We take something that I have a feeling means a lot more to him then his own life."

"And what's that?"

"His sister." Ebon snickered.

"What!" Talon and Shiv asked completely confused.

"Broken Angel...her real name is Rioko Stone. Out of curiosity, I did some research on her. Turns out she's Hotstreak's long lost kid sister."

Shiv's confusion grew as Ebon spoke. "Okay, but how do you know Hotstreak'll break for her? He fought her yesterday just like he did us."

"I don't. But somethin' tells me he will."

A sinister grin grew on Shiv's face as Ebon spoke. "When do we leave?"


	16. When an Angel Disappears

To Lobo-Chan: Sorry, sorry, sorry...I didn't mean to leave you out. It'll never happen again, promise:)

To Darkbusterrancher: Thankx again for you review! And no prob about replying...I guess it's just something I like to do for everybody that reviews.

To LaBOBuren: Thankx alot for your review:) And flames arn't fun...their evil. I prefer 'constructive critisizm' much better;)

To joyfulcry: Thankx...I'm glad you still like it.

To Glamek Stalker: Umm...okay, at the moment, I'm not really sure. In my own head, the Metabreed are the evil dudes, Hotstreak and Angelare kinda in the middle, and Static is the only _real_ hero. I know, it probably doesn't make any sense, but I do agree with you about evil thriving and their being few heroes. Hopefully as the story progresses, who's hero and who's not should become more clear. Thankx alot for the review.

To Victoria Wolf: Haha...your reviews are funny;)

Wow...lot's of reviews. Thankx alot guys! You have no idea how much I appreciate them all! Okay, down to buisness. This is another one of those chapters that I really didn't like the way it came out, and I might change it a bit as time goes on. But until then, I guess this'll do. So, yeah...enjoy! And please, let me know if you see anything that could use changing.

* * *

Static waited patently on the rooftop of the Media Records building. He looked down at his watch. _2:44; Sunday_ shone in dim lit green letters. "Where is she" Static wasn't used to Angel being late for anything...especially for patrol. He had already tried reaching her on her cell phone, but it was no use. She either wouldn't answer, she forgot it, or the battery's dead. Fifteen minutes more past. Static was starting to get worried. "Okay, she'd better have a real good excuse for stickin' me up like this" Upon reaching the conclusion that she wasn't coming, he grabbed his flying disk and soared off toward Rioko's apartment.

He stopped in an alley just before coming in eye's view of Rie's apartment building and changed back into his street clothes. Virgil walked at a quicker pace then he usually did; his steps filled with annoyance and even a slight fear for his friend. He skipped through the front door to the building and caught sight of an old woman in the hall. "Hi Ms. Wilson, have you seen Rie today?"

Ms. Wilson was a very kind old woman that Virgil had really come to like over the last few weeks. Her petit figure and short silver hair fit her well as she had a certain presents that just yelled 'grandmother.' She had always been very kind to Rioko; even now that she was a bang baby. She even cancelled Rie's rent for the first few months she lived there until she could get a decent job. "Oh, hello Virgil. No, I haven't seen Rioko today. Come to think of it, I don't think she ever came home last night."

Virgil's eyes grew a bit to hear this. A rush of thoughts and concerns flooded into his head as he tried to speak. "Do you know where she is?"

Ms. Wilson laughed a little before replying. "No hun, I'm lucky if she'll tell me where her rent is. She never tells me where she goes."

"Okay well, if she comes back, could you let me know" Virgil handed the older woman a piece of paper with his cell number on it.

Ms. Wilson took the paper and nodded with a gentle smile. "Sure thing deary."

Virgil thanked her quickly and rushed back out the door. _Where could she be? _he asked himself. _She said she was just gonna go on patrol for a bit, go to the store, and come home... _Virgil's thoughts grew slightly frantic as he ran through his head all the things that could have happened. _Calm down Virg, maybe she just got called into work or something._ he desperately tried to slow his thoughts and decided to check out Rie's job.

Before he reached the little delivery service store, Virgil changed back into his Static costume and did his best to put up a 'professional' front. "Static! What brings you here" the manager of the little store asked as Static walked in.

"Hello sir. Do you know if Angel is working today?"

The happy manager rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought. "No, no she's not working today. Why? Is something wrong?"

Static turned and spoke while walked out the door. "No, everything's fine. Thanks." Of course, he lied. Static's partner and one of his closest friends was missing; things were defiantly not fine. _What if she's in trouble? What if she needs my help?_ Static flew high in the air on his disk and called Richey on the radio he had made called the 'shock vox'.

"Yo Richey? You there?"

There was a silence for a moment before Static heard a reply. "V-Man! What's up" Richey said happily.

"It's Rie. She's missing."

"What? Are you sure?"

Static ran through his mind all the places she could be before answering. "Yeah, I've looked everywhere she'd be. The lady in her apartment building said she never came home last night."

Richey could tell by the nervous tone of his voice that Virgil was worried. "Maybe she's just out somewhere, V. You know she's gotta mind of her own when it comes to stuff like that."

"Yeah but she's never just disappeared before, especially when we knew we were gonna go on patrol together."

"Okay, okay...meet me at the gas station and maybe we can figure out somethin' from there."

Static looked down at the street alley below him and nodded. "Yeah okay. Meet you there in ten."

"Later bro."

Static and Richey met up at the station just like they had planned and spent nearly an hour working on a way to find their friend. Virgil quickly glanced down at his watch. _5:00; Sunday_ "Crap Rich, I gotta be home soon or my pops'll kill me."

Richey looked up from his computer and nodded. "Yeah okay. I'll stay here for a little bit longer to see if I can find anything."

"Let me know if you find anything." Virgil grabbed his coat and began walking towards the door. "Later Rich."

"Later Virg." Richey continued searching every piece of news and police report he could find. Nothing. It really was like she just disappeared. It was eight o'clock before Richey got a call from his mom and had to head home. "I just hope you're alright..." he said quietly while he shut down his computer and locked the door as he left.

Two days later, Broken Angel was still nowhere to be found. Virgil and Richey had been putting off all homework and chores trying to find her; police had been keeping a wide eye open for any sign of her; even some civilians kept an eye out. The police had been trying to keep the situation quiet, but when a superhero goes missing, everyone's bound to find out and start looking. Where was she?


	17. Electric Trail

To Lobo-Chan: What do you mean? Is there something you see that could use changing?

To joyfulcry: As always, thankx alot for your review:)

To Victoria Wolf: You'll see;) Haha...so, did the fan girls catch Ebon again yet?

To LaBOBuren: Haha...whatever you say:) Anyway, thankx for the idea. I'll make sure to keep that in mind. Oh, I'm trying to understand you're question here. Do you mean like where to publish a fan fic story on this site? Or an original story somewhere else? Let me know which one it is, and I'd love to help out the best I can.

Hey dudes! Okay, another chap up and ready for your enjoyment.As always, please let me know what you think! Later.

* * *

That very same afternoon, a stunning crimson red Lamborghini raced down the freeway on a course to an unknown destination. Inside its black tinted windows, Hotstreak sat in the drivers' seat; jerking the steering wheel every time a car would cut him off of his speedy course. Usually, he would be overjoyed to race with such freedom from any cops or Static like his was just then, but instead, his expression was stern and his eyes were flaring red. The stunning race car sped off the freeway and down along a long, abandoned road to nowhere. Hotstreak pressed his foot hard on the gas and forced the car down the cracked black top of never-ending country road.

Meanwhile, Virgil and Richey walked along a street after being released from their high school a couple hours before. "Yo V, what'd ya say we go hang at your place for a while" Richey asked as he and his best friend walked along. Virgil tried to pay attention to Richey, but he couldn't keep his mind from drifting hopelessly to his lost friend and partner. "Yo, Earth to Virgil." Richey said; waving his hand in front of Virgil's face.

"Oh, what? Did you say something" Virgil quickly snapped out of his daze upon seeing his best friend's hand flash before his eyes.

Richey already knew what Virgil was thinking about before he even had a chance to say. "We'll find her bro. We just need to find some kind of lead."

"What if we don't Rich? What if she's in trouble and needs our help! For all we know she could be dying and we're just sitting around doing nothing" Virgil didn't mean to lash out at him, but over the last few days, so much anxiety had built up…he just had to get it out.

"I know V, but what are we supposed to do? We've got nothin' to go on other then that she hasn't been seen since Saturday. As much as I hate to say it bro, there's nothin' we can do until we get some kind of clue."

Virgil knew Richey was right, but it didn't make it any easier to accept. Just then, as if the answer to Virgil's silent prayer, a soft alarm emitted from Richey's backpack. "What's that" he asked as Richey grabbed for a small radio in his bag.

"It's a little gadget I came up with the other day that pick's up all police reports dealing with bang babies."

Virgil watched as Richey adjusted some of the radio's settings and turned up the volume. "...I repeat: Metahuman known as Hotstreak boosted a red Lamborghini and was lost in pursuit racing down I-89 towards the Dakota city limits." A frantic policeman reported in a high, almost cracking, voice.

Richey turned off the radio and looked in his friend's young, black eyes dancing with fear and anger all at the same time. "V? Are you thinking of doing what I think you're thinking of doing?"

Without even saying a word, Virgil ran off into a nearby alley and hurriedly changed into his Static uniform. Moments later, Richey watched as Static flew off from the safety of the dark alley and out over the busied streets of Dakota. "Virgil! Ahh...I really wish he'd tell me what he's thinking sometimes." Richey said under his breath.

Running onto a quiet street, Richey grabbed his shock vox and yelled at his friend. "Virgil! Would you mind filling me in on what you're doing"

Static tried to ignore the persistent yells coming through his vox, but soon realized he had to answer. "Going after Hotstreak. What'd you think I'm doing?"

"Don't tell me, you think he might have something to do with Rie's disappearance."

"It's all we got right now Rich. I think it's worth checkin' out."

Richey sighed and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. "Yeah, you're right. Just be careful. Who knows what hot head's really capable of..."

"Yes mom." Static joked before putting his shock vox back into his coat pocket.

Speeding over the streets below, little kids and a number of teenage girls stopped in admiration of their valiant hero. "Look Mommy! It's Static" a little boy cried happily. "Haaa...he's so cute, don't you think" A high school-age girl said to her friend who giggled joyfully in agreement. Everyone loved to see Static racing off to fight some brave cause...even if they didn't always know what it was. To be truthful, even Static didn't know what he was doing this time. He knew that it was nothing unusual for Hotstreak to steal a hot car and take it for a joy ride before blowing it sky-high, but for some reason, he just felt this time was different. Where was the fun? Where was the challenge? The problem was, there wasn't one. It was like this time, Hotstreak actually had a purpose set in mind other then just to annoy the city cops and Static and destroy the highway...again.

_Where are you going Hotstreak?_ Static thought to himself as he soared over the I-89 highway. A few stopped cars spun around every few yards of the tire-streaked highway served as a path for Static to follow until he reached the old Farm Road exit. The exit had been blocked off for years due to 'unsafe ramp conditions', but that obviously didn't stop Hotstreak; seeing the car-sized hole blown through the cement barriers. Static winced to think of the damage that must have been done to the originally perfect race car as it plowed through.

Continuing to follow the only path off the highway, Static glided on his disk with rocket-like speed over the old Farm Road in hopes of finding where ever Hotstreak was headed. Nearly fifteen minutes past; still no sign of Hotstreak or his 'hot' car and Static was beginning to loose hope after reaching a fork in the road. _Which way?_ he asked as he contemplated the two roads ahead of him.

_Left or right?_ he asked again, as if expecting the answer to just pop into his head. _Man, I wish Rie were here to do her little tracking trick._ "Wait! That's it" Static yelled out loud when he suddenly remembered a trick for tracking car's Rioko had taught him once. _Rie said that most car engines leave behind a slight electromagnetic trail behind them..._ Static charged up his powers and aimed two streams of purple electricity toward the road under him. _Maybe if I charge up the area, the trail will show up._ He concentrated in silence for nearly five minutes before he got any results. "Yes" Static exclaimed out loud when he saw a small trail of purple energy floating just above the road to the right come into view. "I gotta remember to thank Rie for that trick..." he soon charged up his magnetic disk and flew off after the faint trail.

_Man, why would Hotstreak wanna come out here? There's nothin' here._ Static thought as he took in his surroundings. Nothing but barren farm land filled with corn stocks as tall as an average man and a couple trees as far as the eye could see. That is, until Static began to catch sight of a vague figure of a building in the distance. Coming to the conclusion that he didn't want to be seen quite yet, Static hopped off his disk and quietly walked into the corn rows for coverage. He could see the building clearly now. It appeared to be a large, abandoned, factory-like barn of some kind; complete with run-down tractors and freaky-looking broken sheds. "What is the place" Static asked quietly as he neared the edge of the corn rows and the beginning of the calf-high grass surrounding the barn.

"Where are you Hotstreak" Static looked desperately for any sign of his rival, or his car, but to his misfortune, there was none. As far as he could see, it was just an abandoned...wait! Just then, Static spotted Hotstreak's Lamborghini hid in a camouflage made of overgrown bushes and grass. _There you are._ Sure enough, not far from the car, Hotstreak was crouched close to the ground; peering into a small whole in one of the wood sidings of the barn. _I don't know what you're up to, but I'll bet anything it's got something to do with Rioko._


	18. Ransom Note

To LaBOBuren: Hey. Uhh...well, I saw you got yur story up and posted under the same name, so I'm guessing you don't need me any more right?

To Victoria Wolf: Exactly. Hotstreak doesn't need money...he needs thrill;)

To Darkbusterrancher: As always, thankx a lot for your review. This chapter doesn't really get into where Rioko is, but I promise you'll find out soon enough.

To joyfulcry: Thankx:) Sorry I made you wait soo long for the new chap.

To Lobo-Chan: Okay...well if there ever is anything you see, just let me know:)

Hey dudes! Whoa...long time no see. Sorry it took me so freakin long to post. Life in the real world was calling all my time for the last week. But finally, I managed to get a newchap posted up for your reading pleasure. Word of warning though, it might till next week until I get to post again. Later.

* * *

Static watched patiently behind the safety of the tall corn for Hotstreak to make a move. The older teen finally stood from his crouched position and walked cautiously to a closed but unlocked door about ten feet to his left. The old door cried loudly as Hotstreak pried it open just enough for him to fit through. That was Static's cue. Being extremely careful not to make a sound, Static made his way through the tall grass and over to a window next to the door Hotstreak had just entered. He bent down and peaked in through one of the window's corners. The room inside was black from lack of light. All he could see was a dim silhouette of his rival being illuminated by a streak of light from the half-open door and a small flame burning in his hand to act as a lantern.

Quietly, Static watched Hotstreak make his way to a small table set out in the middle of the room. Hotstreak inched warily to the table and noticed a light bulb hanging a foot or so above his head. Upon finding and pulling on a medal chain to flick it on, the light from the dim bulb gave a small idea as to where he was. Hotstreak paid little mind to his surroundings, but Static's eyes grew wide as a collection of old hunting guns, knives, and other gruesome tools began to come in view. _What is this place?_ Static thought to himself. _It's like the abandoned barn from hell or something._

After taking in to full the grim appearance of the room, Static refocused his attention back on Hotstreak. By this time, he noticed that the older metahuman had picked up a piece of white paper covered in splashes of dried blood. Static could feel his heart beating faster when he saw Hotstreak's fiery eyes widen and his expression grow to an almost fearful anxiety. _I gotta know what that says... _It took his mind quite a struggle to get over the new thoughts plaguing his mind. _I wonder if that's about Rie? Could she be...could that blood be...hers?_ It didn't take long for him to snap out of his trance though as he saw; no, more like felt, Hotstreak dash out of the demented barn and slam the barn door right into Static's nose. "Oww..." he groaned out loud; pushing the door away from his now squished nose.

Hotstreak stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Static. "What the hell are you doing here!" Hotstreak questioned angrily after turning and seeing Static leaning against the barn rubbing his sore nose.

Static's voice was muffled as he spoke through his hand, "Following you. Why else would I be out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Hotstreak thought of saying something smart in reply like he usually would, but changed his mind; remembering the word's he had read in the bloodied paper clutched in his hand. "I don't have time for this." He spat impatiently.

"Whoa, hold up hot head. What's in your hand?" Static asked as he walked up closer.

Looking down at the wrinkled paper in his hand, Hotstreak's voice mellowed, "It's none of your business sparky. Why don't you go back to the city and go bug somebody who's actually doing something wrong and leave me alone?"

"Have you forgotten your little stunt with the Lambo in the brush over there?" Static pointed to the scratched up sports car half hidden in the bushes.

"Oh...that." Hotstreak laughed slightly, "I needed a fast car. Hey, at least I didn't destroy anything this time!" he added quickly upon seeing Static's sour expression.

"Yeah...barely. So, are you gonna tell me what you're doin' out here, or am I gonna have to force you to?"

"Look sparky, I'd love to stay and play, but I'm in a bit of a rush." Hotstreak said as he turned and began unburying his car.

Static's sour expression grew as he realized that Hotstreak had such little respect for him, that he actually turned his back on his threat. "Well if that's how you want it, then fine." Static held out his hand a shot an electrifying shock toward Hotstreak.

"Hey!" he yelled as a sizzling shock of pain shot up his back. "I mean it man! Not today!" Hotstreak's eyes flared brighter while he spoke; sending a shiver up Static's spine.

_Okay, what is this guy's deal?_ "Look Hotstreak, I just wanna know if why you're here has something to do with Angel's disappearance."

Hotstreak's eyes widened a bit and soon settled back into they're original cool green color. "You're really not gonna leave me alone on this are you?" he continued with a sigh after seeing Static nod. "Okay, listen up. I'm sure you've already guessed that Rioko has been kidnapped right?"

"Yeah...I was beginning to conclude that."

"Well the people who've got her contacted me. Here..." Hotstreak handed Static the bloodied paper and watched as he read.

_If you ever want to see Angel again, meet me at the old Jackz Toy factory. Come alone, or I'll spill the rest of her blood._ Static could feel his mouth falling open slightly as he read.

"Now you know why I don't want you to interfere." Hotstreak said quietly before Static had a chance to speak.

"Who would do this? And why against you and not me? It's not like you two are exactly close." Static finally managed to say.

Hotstreak let a small laugh to come out of his lips after Static spoke. "Yeah. I'm sure she hates me after our last meeting. But I don't know who's doing this. I've got a lot of enemies; it could be any one of them."

_Whoa...there's a weird feeling._ Static thought to himself as a feeling of sudden pity and sorrow for Hotstreak grew inside him. He looked so sad...so lost. It just didn't fit him well. I _wonder what he's thinking?_

"I don't imagine there would be any way I could convince you to stay out of this, would there?" Hotstreak said while taking the note back from Static.

"No way. Rie might be your sister, but if there's anyone who cares for her, it's me."

"Yeah, figured you'd say that."

"So, seeing that we're gonna have to work together on this, what's the plan?"


	19. “Vengeance is so Sweet”

To LaBOBuren: No prob dude. Oh, by the way...sorry I haven't reviewed your story in a while. I promise I'll read it as soon as I can:)

To Lobo-Chan: Sure, be my guest:)

To Victoria Wolf: Hmm...actually, I like that idea too, but I kinda need Static for the time being, so Hotstreak's gonna have to deal for a little while;)

Whoa...hey. Sorry 'bout the long wait for updates. It seems my life's not gonna let up, so unfortunately I think weekly updates are gonna be the best I can do for now. Hope you enjoy.

Here ya go:)

* * *

After carefully looking over their means to rescue Rioko from whatever fate had befallen her, Hotstreak and Static quickly climbed in the lightly damaged Lamborghini and rushed off to the ever familiar abandoned district of Dakota city. Static sat awkwardly in the passenger seat with wide eyes and sweaty hands gripping tightly to the dashboard in front of him as Hotstreak sped through the busy city streets with insane speed. "Hotstreak! Slow down! You're gonna get us killed!" Static cried upon hearing the yells of innocent bystanders running away from the rocket of a car. 

"Haha..." Hotstreak laughed sinisterly, "Stop you're whinin' sparky. We ain't gonna die. Well," he added quietly, "You might, but I'm not."

Static turned to Hotstreak with a look of some what shock before he spoke in a voice cracking with nervousness. "Well that's real reassuring. Just remember hot head, you need me right now."

Hotstreak knew he was right, but just knowing didn't make it any easier to accept. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just go get Rioko."

The two rival metahumans rode in silence through the large city as they each secretly contemplated the battle they new was to come. At least, that's what Hotstreak was thinking about. Static, on the other hand, couldn't get his mind from dwelling on the constant curiosity that loomed in his mind about why Hotstreak would leave his little sister so many years ago. In Static's mind, it was because he was a selfish pig who couldn't care less about anyone but himself. But now that he could see the deep sadness and worry glazed over his usually carefree eyes, he was beginning to wonder if there was more to this alleged 'hot head' then met the eye.

"Hotstreak?" Static said suddenly; breaking Hotstreak's train of thought.

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

Hotstreak looked at Static with a slight expression of confusion before answering. "You can ask whatever you want. It's whether or not I'll answer that's the question."

Static nodded calmly and decided to take a chance in asking anyway. "Why did you leave her?"

"What?" Hotstreak asked; almost as if taken by surprise.

"Rioko...what made you leave her alone like that at such a young age?" Static knew he had hit maybe the only soft spot in Hotstreak's hard heart the very moment he spoke.

"She told you?" Hotstreak asked quietly.

"Yeah. She told me everything...well, most of it anyway."

"Haaa..." Hotstreak sighed deeply. "I was goin' through a bad time. Had enemies on my back constantly. I just didn't want to risk her getting hurt, that's all."

Static sat back in an odd surprise to see that Hotstreak actually answered. "Real good job that did." Immediately, he knew his word's were cold and to Hotstreak's disbelief, cut right through to his very soul.

"I know." He said simply; as if not able to continue.

Neither Static nor Hotstreak spoke again until they reached their goal. The sun was setting low in the evening sky by then, and the old building in front of them reeked of a fierce presents that just screamed 'haunted'. Following the plan they had made previously, Static stealthy sneaked out of sight while he watched Hotstreak walk in the open towards the condemned toy factory. A shiver ran up and down the pyrokinetic's spine as he inched closer and closer into a place where he would otherwise never dream of going. A giant evil-looking clown jack-in-the-box sank over the building's roof ledge made Hotstreak cringe as it watched his every move; coming ever closer to the factory's large chained doors.

With great ease Hotstreak silently heated through the rusted chain lock and pulled open the large metal doors leading into the main room of the factory. A wicked cry of the door's rusted hinges filled the air and caused a few previously peaceful bats to flutter in the factories rafters. Hotstreak too winced at the noise, but continued to walk on nonetheless. Nothing could stop him now; not now that he'd come this far. Proceeding forward into the large warehouse-like room in front of him, Hotstreak inched cautiously forward; continuously peering into the dark shadows formed by large broken machines and unfinished devil-like toys. _Man, it's no wonder why this place didn't make it..._ Hotstreak joked silently.

Meanwhile, in another area of the factory, Ebon and Talon sat patiently in front of a row of TV monitors. Each one showed a different security camera set in every room of the factory, but their focus was on only one. Ebon smiled as he watched a clueless Hotstreak venture deeper into the shadows of the condemned building. "That's it punk, just a little more..." Ebon said with a tone that threw a shiver up Talon's feathers.

"I can't believe he actually showed." Talon interrupted.

"I told you he'd come. He might be a thief and a traitor, but when it comes to family, he's nothing more then a brother wanting to protect his kid sister."

"Seriously Ebon, how'd you know he'd fall?" Talon asked while taking a sip from a can of soda.

"You forget I've got family too." Ebon thought that was enough of an explanation, but upon seeing Talon's confused expressed he decided to continue. "Put it this way: if you knew your little sister was in danger, would you put aside everything you are to help her?"

"Good point." Talon concluded simply.

"Shiv." Ebon said into a radio he had picked up.

"Yeah boss?" Within seconds Ebon and Talon heard Shiv's reply through the radio's receiver.

"Our boy's here. How's our guest?"

"Oh, wow...he actually showed?" Talon and Ebon looked at each other for a moment before Shiv continued. "Cool. Oh...uhh, yeah...Angel and I had a little uhh...dispute a few minutes ago, so she's not really conscious at the moment..."

Ebon shook his head in frustration as he thought of how Shiv constantly let his temper get the best of him. "For the last time Shiv, we need her _alive_ for this to work. Don't go and have a field day just yet."

Shiv sighed deeply before replying, "Yeah I know. Sorry boss. Won't happen again."

"Don't worry 'bout it. She won't be our problem for much longer anyway."

The moment the he heard the radio disconnect, Shiv allowed himself to slump down in the chair he had been sitting in. _Whew...that was a relief. I thought he was gonna be madder then that. Oh well. I guess it really doesn't matter. All she needs to be is alive. He didn't say anything about __well._ On that thought, Shiv let his eyes dance across the floor to the base of a well-locked metal door._ I wonder if she's awake yet?_ Allowing his curiosity to take over, Shiv stood from his chair and walked over to a large hole filled with thick plexiglass near the top of the intriguing locked door. Looking in, he could see everything was covered in a thick black shadow from lack of light save for a large pair of limp wings. An eerie glow of deep red shown dimly from them just enough to light up the figure of an unconscious, water-drenched female laying on the floor. Shiv stared at her resting body and smirked evilly as he thought, _Haa...vengeance is so sweet._

_

* * *

_Soo...

Hey, is anybody still reading this? I mean, I know I still have my loyal 4 (yes, that's LaBOBuren, Lobo-Chan, Victoria Wolf, and joyfulcry:), but is anybody else still with me? As always, suggestions are always welcome, and PLEASE REVIEW! Thankx, later.


	20. Twist of Fate

To Lobo-Chan: Haha...that's funny. Bears in pink tutus doing the tango. Haha. It reminds me of a cool episode of Teen Titans.

To Victoria Wolf: Yes you are a loyal reader...even if we did have a little misunderstanding in earlier chapters:) Oohhh...have Hotstreak punish Shiv...nice idea! Thankx!

To Darkbusterrancher: Oh okay, I was actually wondering where you went. Well, you can always review anonymously if you can't log in anymore. I could care less either way...I just like getting your input:) As for your question...I'm not sure yet. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

To Anonymous: Hmmm...okkaayyy...thankx. I think. Umm...but, yeah...well if you've been paying attention at all to the story and not just her, you should have already figured out Rioko's not a perfect 'Mary-Sue' seeing that she contimplated suicide at one point, among other things. And you also should have guessed that she's more then likely already been 'hit on the head or something.' Thankx for your review though. Even if it was a flame...it's nice to know what people think.

To LaBOBuren: Okay, here's what you do. Go to your menu page, and click on the 'settings' link on the left-hand side. This page is where you can make your bio, change email, ect. The one you want though is the fifth slot down, next to 'Anonymous Reviews'. You'll see a check box to the right. If you want to allow anonymous reviewers, make sure the box is NOT checked. Hope that helps:) Oh, and sorry I didn't email you. Parental restrictions wouldn't allow. (If you know what I mean.) As always, thankx a bunch for your review:)

To Feral2k: Oh cool. I'm glad to hear that:) Thankx.

To joyfulcry: Thankx so much for your review! And as for your question...you'll just have to wait and see;) Muhahaha!

To Jill: Really? Cool! Thankx for letting me know that! Hey, you know, you can always drop me a line even if you don't have any suggestions or anything:) Hope to hear from ya again!

Okay, did I get everybody? Wow...great job on the reviews dudes. It's nice being able to turn on my computer in the morning a find all these reviews waitin for me. Okay...down to buisness. Chapter 20 up and ready for your reading pleasure! And it only took me a week to post! I'm trying my hand at angst, so please let me know how I'm doin. I've never tried writing it before, so I'm not quite sure if I've got the anxiety part down just yet. K, well enjoy! Later!

Let the suspence begin...

* * *

Sneaking stealthy through the unlit room, Hotstreak made his way through the factory. He jumped slightly as a bird shuffled on a shelf beside him. _Stupid bird. Okay dude...where are you? _Just then, Hotstreak caught sight of a single lit light bulb shining weakly in a room next to him. He cautiously made his way to a door leading into the lit room and slowly pushed it open. Within the room he found a table with a bloodied piece of paper upon it not unlike the one he had found in the barn earlier. Growing annoyed with the seeming 'games' his unknown enemy was playing with him, Hotstreak angrily picked up the paper and read. _Good boy. You really do value her life, don't you? No matter. You're here now. But where to next, I wonder? Her blood is still spilling big brother... _Hotstreak's eyes grew wide and flared a furious red as he burned the taunting note in his hand. "This is not a game!" he screamed; lashing out all his strength toward the table beside him. His fist rammed through the wooden table at if it were a toothpick and was soon engulfed with the flames of the beyond furious metahuman. "I swear I'll kill you the very second I find you, you..."

"I don't think so." Hotstreak's lash of anger was cut short by the dark sound of a familiar voice teasing over an intercom.

Hotstreak jumped upon hearing the voice, but immediately responded after recognizing its jeering sound. "Ebon! You're the one doing this?"

"You got it." Ebon replied.

"Why?"

Ebon laughed a chilling laugh that made Hotstreak cringe. "Haha...I think all that fire really did melt your brain."

"What?"

"You betrayed me remember? Sent me up the river."

"Yeah, so what does this have to do with Angel?"

"Ahh yes...your dear little sister. Well, let's just say she served as perfect leverage for my purpose."

Hotstreak growled fiercely as he heard Ebon's taunting voice. "What do you want?"

"Meet me in the main room of the factory. Now." Ebon's devil-like voice filled the room with a frightening ghost presents before the dark silence of the abandoned factory once again filled the air.

"Ebon!" Hotstreak yelled before bolting out of the room and running as fast as he could to the main room.

"Ebon!" Hotstreak yelled again furiously upon reaching the still dark assembly room.

"Chill out Hotstreak. There's no reason to be so angry." Hotstreak's attention flared towards the area of the large room where he had heard the voice.

"Show yourself before I burn this whole place down!" Suddenly, Hotstreak heard a deep_ click_ sound echo through the factory. Within seconds, the factory's old lights began to flicker on throughout the room; steadily reveling a shadowy figure of a man standing roughly twenty feet from Hotstreak's position. "Ebon." Hotstreak growled softly.

"Hello Hotstreak. Long time. How are you?" as he spoke, Ebon glided out of the few remaining shadows of the large room and walked closer to his arch rival.

"Cut the crap Ebon. Where's Angel and what do you want?"

Ebon closed his eyes and snickered as he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Hotstreak tensed quickly; ready for any attack that lay ahead of him. But instead, Ebon simply reopened his white eyes and pointed effortlessly to something behind Hotstreak.

Hotstreak swirled from his guarded stance and allowed a small gasp to escape his lips after taking in the sight before him. "No..." Standing some fifteen feet from him was Shiv and Talon; both smiling sinisterly as they held up a semi-conscious girl between them. "Rioko!" Hotstreak yelled upon seeing the beaten state of his younger sibling. With hand's bound tightly behind her and the cover of water draining her pyrokinetic abilities, Rioko was helpless in nearly every manner of the word.

Hotstreak could feel his heart jumping into his throat as she weakly lifted her head and stared at him with dazed eyes and pained expression; managing only to get out a small whisper of a word before passing out. "France..."

"What have you done?" Hotstreak asked harshly without taking his eyes off his sister.

"She would be in better shape, but Shiv had a few little disagreements with her earlier."

Shiv jumped a bit when Hotstreak's piercing glare turned to him for a further explanation. "It's really her fault. She wouldn't stop struggling."

Hotstreak could feel his anger growing inside him with every passing second as he thought of what torture Shiv had put his sister though. "What do you want from me Ebon?" Hotstreak asked as he moved his attention back to the shadow metahuman.

"Nothing complicated really. Just your average everyday life-for-life deal. You give me your life, and Angel here goes free. You refuse, Shiv gets to finish the job he started, and I kill you anyway." upon hearing Ebon's words, Hotstreak shot his attention back to Shiv who had now morphed his hand into a long blade; held snuggly at Rioko's neck. "I guess you could say it's one of those win-win situations…for me anyway."

Hotstreak stood in silence for a moment, knowing he only had one true option until his 'secret weapon' showed up. "Alright." he said; lowering is guard. "Let her go and I'm yours."

"Good choice." Ebon laughed before again snapping his fingers as to call two new members of his gang to secure Hotstreak by the arms. Laughing a bit harder this time, Ebon snickered after seeing Hotstreak wince at the roughness of his new bodyguards as they tightly grasped Hotstreak's arms. "Haha...so, do you like my new boys? I hired 'em just for you, Francis."

Acting as if he didn't hear Ebon's tease, Hotstreak turned his attention back to Angel, who was still being held by Shiv and Talon. "Okay, you got me, now let her go."

"That was the deal wasn't it?" Ebon nodded towards Shiv and spoke disdainfully, "Take her outside...put her out of her misery."

Hotstreak's eyes grew wide after hearing Ebon's orders and began to fight against the guards with every ounce of energy he had in him. "NO! Rio! We had a deal Ebon! Let her go!"

"Haha...I don't think so. Like I said, no matter what, I win, and you lose."

"NO!" Hotstreak attempted to charge a blast of fire into the large, muscular men holding him, but found it useless as the men seemed to feel no effect. "What the..."

"What?" Ebon began. "Did you think I just found normal human's to hold you? These boy's are fire-resistant bang babies bro, so don't waist your energy."

"Ebon you..." Hotstreak's voice was muffled through the thick outside walls of the factory, but Static had caught just enough to now it was his cue for action.

"Time to go." Static said to himself as he jumped to his feet from his hiding spot against a barrel just outside the factory. After rushing around the side of the building to an unused side door, Static found himself forced to decide whether to find his partner or help his rival first. All his instincts told him to find Rioko as quickly as possible, but upon hearing a scream from Hotstreak of unmistakable pain rush through his ears, he knew Hotstreak needed his attention first. "You'd better still be alive Hotstreak, or your sis is gonna kill me." Static flew open the rusty metal door and ran into the factory with the greatest of speed.

After running down a long, partially lit hallway, Hotstreak and Ebon came into view in front of him. Trying to be as quiet as he could be, Static crouched behind an old piece of machinery and watched as Ebon taunted Hotstreak.

"Haha...so how does it feel?" Ebon asked as Hotstreak struggled to break free of the guard's hold.

"How does what feel?" Hotstreak growled; his angry voice tainted with a crack of pain from a recent blow he'd received from one of the powerful metahuman's holding him.

"Well, you made your first mistake by betraying me, then you fought your own sister with full intention of killing her, and now, after you've come so far to rescue her, she's soon to be dead and you're about to join her." Ebon laughed as a new taunt entered his mind, "You really are the biggest failure I've ever met."

Hotstreak pulled against the guard's hold with his greatest strength, but in realizing there was no way he could escape, he decided to relax and accept whatever was coming to him with what little pride was left in him.

"What? No smart reply?" Ebon snickered.

"Why? You're right...I am the biggest failure you ever met."

Somewhat shocked buy Hotstreak's guilt stricken tone-of-voice, Ebon smiled as he spoke, "Finally. We agree on something. Too bad it's time for you to die."

"Do your worst." Deep in his soul, Hotstreak knew Static was somewhere nearby, but something inside him just wouldn't let him believe that he would live through this night. So many sins, so much pain. Hotstreak wasn't really sure he wanted to live through it. _Maybe it's better that I die tonight instead of live and try to pick up the pieces again._ Finding himself locked in an inner battle of guilt and fury, Hotstreak was torn in just about everything from who he was to what he wanted.

Allowing his head to fall on his shoulders in utter defeat, Hotstreak stood silently in front of Ebon. "Haha...my pleasure." Ebon lifted his clenched fist and readied himself for the most enjoyable punch he'd ever throw.


	21. To the Aid of an Enemy

To LaBOBuren: You got that right. Ahh...oh well. I guess they're just lookin out for our best, right:) I'm glad you understand though. If you have any other questions, we'll just have to work em out over the site like we've been doing.

To joyfulcry: As always, thankx much for the review.

To Victoria Wolf: It's okay...you can look now:)

To Lobo-Chan: Yeah, poor Hotstreak! Dude, I'm actually feeling for him and I'M writing the story!;)

To Jill: Thankx so much! I really appreciate (sp?) it. I hope you like the new chap too.

To dpowellyoyo: Yeah...right. Thankx for the review...I think;)

HEY GUYS! 'Sup? Yeah, I know...long time since last update. So sorry 'bout that. Trust me, if it wasn't for school, I'd be writing nearly 24/7. Too bad life has it's way of messing that up though, huh? Aww...I can't believe it! There's only a couple chapters left! I don't want it to end! Haa...okay, okay, I'll shut up now and let you get to reading. (Oh, and just as a fun mental thought, Hotstreak plushies to everyone who reviews this chap!;) Later.

Enjoy:)

* * *

Stifling back a cry of pain from the most recent blow to his face, Hotstreak closed his eyes against the pain and tried to regain what little composer he had left. He could feel a light flow of blood begin to trickle down his nose as Ebon pulled his fist away from his face. The pain from the blow was nothing he hadn't felt before, but for a reason unknown even to Hotstreak himself, even the slightest pain felt unbearable that night. _Rio..._ Hotstreak's mind rushed with thoughts of worry and regret for his sister as he watched Shiv and Talon quite literally drag her out of the room. 

"You shouldn't be worrying about her Hotstreak." Ebon said upon noticing Hotstreak's attention on Rioko.

"Who said I'm worried?" Hotstreak replied quickly; trying to put on the best 'normal' front he could.

"It's written all over your face hot head. You know, I used to think you were a really complicated kind of guy..."

"And?" Hotstreak rolled out.

"Now I know better. You're just a shallow, weak kid." Ebon said with small maniacal laugh.

"Yeah, I might be. But then again, so are you." Hotstreak growled through a crooked smile.

Ebon eyes narrowed at his comment and nodded his head as to act as a silent order to the men holding Hotstreak.

Hotstreak hissed quietly as the two impressively-sized men tightened their grips on his arms. "Ha...you know I'm right then." despite the pain shooting up his arms from the guard's vice-like grip, Hotstreak's wit was still quite intact.

"You should watch your mouth kid." Ebon snarled before backhanding him with an impressive strength that almost robbed Hotstreak of all his consciousness.

Behind an old separating machine, Static crouched low and watched as Ebon tortured his enemy-turned-alley. _I can't believe I'm about to risk my life for him. Oh well…might as well get it over with. _As of yet, Static wasn't quite sure how he was going to save Hotstreak from the fate that seemed fixed, but he knew he had to try nonetheless. _ I bet if I can knock out those two guards in one shot, taking out Ebon should be easy. Now... _Static contemplated as to how he would go about his intervention. _How am I gonna knock out them without hitting Hotstreak in the process? _he thought deeply for a moment before he allowed a small smile to cross his lips. _Ohh...that's how._ After deciding his method of attack, Static ran unseen behind another machine where he would have a better view for attack.

"So, what'd ya think Hotstreak? How should I kill you?" Hotstreak was growing quite sick of Ebon's unmerciful taunts, but then again, he had grown so dazed by Ebon's fierce blows, he only really heard a couple of them. "Huh? What'd ya think?" Ebon repeated again just before landing a swift and powerful kick into Hotstreak's stomach.

Hotstreak gasped as the kick knocked all the breath out of him before snarling quietly. "Just end it already Ebon."

"Aww..." Ebon began, "Is that a plea?"

Static knew he couldn't wait any longer. It was either now, or never. _Here we go... _he said to himself before powering up his flying disk and soaring into sight just feet behind from Ebon. "What? You have a party and forget to invite me?"

Ebon's mood turned sour and his eyes narrowed the very moment he heard the ever familiar voice of Static. "What are you doin' here!"

"Ahh...well you see, when you kidnapped Angel, you forget to take into consideration that not only is she Hotstreak's sister, she's also my partner. And anyone who messes with her, is gonna have to deal with me personally."

"Oh really?" Ebon's eyes widened with relief as he spoke. "That's very honorable of you Static, but I'm afraid you're too late."

"I don't think so." Static stood tall on his circular disk and charged up two impressively sized balls of purple electricity around his clenched fists. Hotstreak smiled sinisterly upon feeling the guards lessen their grips on his arms. They were afraid, and Hotstreak was going to take advantage of it. "Hotstreak! Move!" Static yelled just before sending the electric spheres directly for each of the guards.

Hotstreak quickly twisted his arms out of the two stunned guards hold and hurried out of the way of Static's attack. The blasts ripped through the air like torpedos in water before hitting their targets both dead-on. The two once-powerful metahuman's shrieked in unison as the blasts electrified their bodies while sending them plowing into (and through) the wall behind. Ebon had never seen such power and anger surging through Static's eyes. He knew this would not be a fight easily won, but he was not about to back down quietly. "Hotstreak, go get Rioko. I'll take care of him." Whether he wanted them to or not, Ebon's eyes widened after hearing angrily Static growl out his last sentence.

Hotstreak nodded quickly to Static and smiled again as he wiped a hand to his nose; removing the blood from it. "Hey sparky!" he paused; waiting for Static and Ebon to turn their attention to him. "Give him an extra somethin' for me will ya?" Static did not answer, but the look of sudden fear he saw in Ebon was good enough answer for him.

Elsewhere in the factory, Shiv and Talon continued to drag an unconscious Rioko to a half-broken door leading outside. "...come on Talon. You don't wanna have any fun with me?" Shiv's voice was high pitched and grating to Talon as she helped him pull their hostage along through the door.

"No Shiv, I'm just gonna go back inside with Ebon. You can do what you want with her without my help." Talon's reply was somewhat uneasy, but still quite pointed as she dropped the weight she was carrying of Rioko and quickly walked back inside the factory; leaving Shiv alone with his prisoner.

She didn't know why, but as she slowly walked through the half-lit hallway, Talon felt as if someone was coming…someone not on her side. Yet, she could plainly see that there was no one there. The dingy hallway was abandoned to everything but a small light, a few crates, and herself. "La calma que precede a la tormenta..." _The calm before the storm,_ she mumbled to herself in her native tongue. Just then, Talon swore she felt a rush of heat fly past her. There was still nothing there, but she knew something, or _someone_, was coming her way. Not wanting to find out what it was, she took the first opportunity she could find to hide within the safety of a deeply shadowed nook behind a crate.

Not twenty feet down the hall, an enraged Hotstreak ran cautiously to where he thought his fallen sister might have been taken. Hearing his echoing footfalls through the hall, Talon sucked in a deep breath in hopes whoever was coming wouldn't see her. Within seconds, Talon watched silently as Hotstreak passed. "Whew..." she made a fatal mistake by allowing a deep sigh of relief escape her lips. Despite her efforts to cover up her error by clamping her hands over her mouth, it was already too late.

The pyrokinetic's heightened senses quickly alerted him of the sound; however slight it may have been. "Talon!" he growled angrily; fire burning stronger in his eyes then it ever had before.

Talon felt herself begin to tremble as Hotstreak's fierce gaze met her own. "P-please...don't hu-urt me..." she manage to force out between shivering chills of fright.

"Where is she!" Hotstreak growled again. This time more fiercely then the last (if that was possible).

Talon tried to speak but the sound of her own heart beating faster and faster in her ears deafened her mind of all logical thought. _That way._ she said silently as she lifted her shaking arm to point down the hall.

Immediately, Hotstreak picked up his previous run and jerked his furious gaze off Talon and back to the hall in front of him.

Though her body wanted her to stay exactly where she was, Talon's mind overran with sudden worry for her leader and friend. Her legs were still trembling with fear from her recent encounter with Hotstreak, but despite that, she managed to push them into a fast run. After running no more then a few feet, Talon found herself letting out a cry of pain as a ball of fire hit her squarely in the back. Passing out before even reaching the floor, she was spared seeing the cruel expression of sheer rage creasing every line of Hotstreak's face just down the hall.

"Rio..." Hotstreak's moment of victory over Talon was short-lived when his mind pulled back to the thought of his injured sister. "I'm coming." he muttered as he ran as fast as his legs would take him. Just moments later, Hotstreak found himself face to face with a now closed door. _Here goes..._

"So, looks like we get to finish our fun after all, don't we?" Shiv snickered manically as he jerked one of Rie's wings and forced her semi-conscious body to its feet. "Got any last words?" he asked jeeringly while he again morphed his hand into a sharp dagger-like blade and held it close to Rie's neck.

Rioko's strength was all but replenished as she struggled to bring her sight up to meet Shiv's. "Go to hell, Shiv." she growled with all the strength she could muster.

"Haha...will do, sweetheart. But not before I drag you down with me."


	22. Burning Victory

To Random person w/random thought: Thank you so much for your flattering review! wipes tears from eyes That was such a nice thing for you to say! Oh, and thankx too for your suggestions. I really like the about Rio and Hotstreak sharing some type of special power. Sadly though, since there's only one chapter left after this one, I can't see how I can fit it in. If I ever write a sequal though, I'll definatly make sure to keep it close in mind. Thankx again! I hope you'll drop me a line again sometime:)

To Jill: Thankx:)

To LaBOBuren: Hehe...cuz...torturing people w/cliffies is fun;) MUHAHA!

To Flamer: Well, can't please everybody can I? Look, I realize you're probably one of those people who just read stories to find something about them you don't like, but whatever. Everybody's got their own opinion, and I respect that. I'm glad you like the story, but if you ever have anything else to flame me about like this, don't. You crossed the line from constructive critisism to all out screaming flame (which I'm sure you already know), and I'd appreciate it if unless you actually have something nice to say about my character that you don't review me again.

To joyfulcry: Aww...thankx. That's what I was goin for, so I'm glad you see it that way:)

To Lobo-Chan: Yeah! Go Hotstreak beat him up for all us fans!

To Bandie: Thankx dude, that meant a lot to me. Like I told Flamer, I respect that everybody's got their own opinions, haha...but honestly, I like yours much better;) Thankx again so much, and whoever you are normally, I hope you keep reviewing:)

Alright! How is everybody today? I hope you're all good:) Haaa...wow...there's only one chapter left. I'm sad. Well, I'm guessing all you are glad though, huh? Okay, well here you go...Chapter 22.

Enjoy.

* * *

Just as Shiv was about to slit Rioko's throat, Shiv froze to see the figure of a burning metahuman step through the door behind him. "No! You're supposed to be dead!" he yelled furiously.

"Let her go." Hotstreak's voice was soft, but still filled with furious anger and wrath.

Shiv wanted with all his might to press his dagger-like hand into Rioko's throat and end it all right then, but some overwhelming fear took him over as he gazed into Hotstreak's eyes. All the green in them was gone now. Only a fiery red, engulfed in rage and pain remained. "D-don't come any closer, or I'll kill 'er!" he managed to stutter out.

"Don't think so." Shiv's eyes grew ever wider with fright as he watched Hotstreak engulf himself in a burning flame.

"I-I mean it...you come any closer and I-I'll kill her!" still wanting desperately to kill his prisoner, Shiv tightened his grip on Rioko's arm and pressed his hand-turned-dagger on her neck so it just barely cut into her skin; causing a weak whimper to escape her as a small trickle of blood fell down her neck.

Shiv felt a shiver rush up his spine when he saw a sinister smile cross over his rival's lips as he formed some type of fiery blade is his hand. "Ha ha...really? Let's test that, shall we?"

Before even having a chance to react, Shiv cried out in a mix of shock and agony after watching Hotstreak swiftly charge towards him and ram his fiery blade through his side. "Hhh...how did you...?" Not able to finish his question, Shiv let go his hold on Rioko and fell to the ground beside her. The look on his face chilled Hotstreak in a way that he knew he would never forget. It made him feel like a murderer. Though, he knew the wound he'd caused wouldn't kill Shiv, it was still enough to make him feel like he had. So much blood...so much pain. But in the end, he knew Shiv got better then what he deserved. Besides, he had more important things to think about now.

As Hotstreak stood, silently watching Shiv till the moment his eyes finally closed and he was sure the psycho metahuman had past out, Rioko too began to loose her hold on consciousness. She tried the best she could to hold up her weight, but an overpowering fatigue fought strongly against her. "France..." she said softly just before closing her eyes and collapsing towards the ground.

Hotstreak was pulled roughly from his daze the very moment he heard her voice. "Rie!" he felt his heart jump into his throat again as he quickly ran to catch her fall. While the rage burning around him slowly diminished, he braced her up from behind and gently lowered her to the ground so that her head cradled in his arm and her back and wings rested in his lap. "Rio...I'm so sorry..." he said quietly upon seeing his little sister's weary and bloodied state.

Feeling a strange surge of energy flow through her as the warmth of Hotstreak's hand brushed a lock of hair off her face, Rioko managed to force her eyes open to see the kind, worried face of her brother. "Francis...what are you...?"

Before allowing her to finish, Hotstreak gently placed a finger on her lips. "Shh...it's okay now. I'll explain everything later. Just relax...everything's gonna be okay." He could tell by the look in her cloudy eyes that she was somewhat confused. (And with good reason.) Still, for the first time in nearly nine years, all he could manage to think of was the joy he felt in holding his once-lost sister in his arms. Even when he felt a tear fall from his soft-green eyes, nothing could pull him from that thought.

At any other time, Rioko would have jumped to be this close to someone, but not this time. It was odd. After so many years of pain and neglect, the only place she really had ever truly felt safe was when she was in the arms of the very one who had caused all of that pain. "Thank you." she said softly just before allowing the comforting darkness looming over her to pull her into a tired sleep.

Looking down at her peaceful face, Hotstreak smiled kindly as he wrapped his arms tighter around her and rested his head on the younger girl's black tresses.

The moment of peace was not long-lived though as Hotstreak's attention was pulled to the deafening sound of a loud crash from within the factory. Part of him wanted to take Rioko and leave Static to whatever fate was to befall him, but as he looked again to his sister's beautiful face, he knew he had to help him. "Stupid conscious. I thought thieves weren't supposed to have that..." he mumbled to himself before gently slipping an arm under Rioko's legs and picking her up so her body and wings were cradled safely in his arms as he walked.

Within the confines of the old building, Static is found hovering on his metallic disk without a scratch on him. While Ebon, on the other hand, laid nearly unconscious on the floor. "I told you you'd pay." Static growled; voice still filled with a furious rage.

"Where did you get so much...power?" Ebon struggled to say while trying to stand.

Charging up another blast of the powerful purple energy in his hand, Static replied, "It's what happens when you hate something so much, loosing is no longer in your vocabulary." Static found himself smiling somewhat sinisterly after hearing Ebon cry out when his last blast of energy plowed into him dead on; draining him completely of all the energy he had.

"Nice job sparky." Static turned and felt his expression of fury turn to worry upon seeing his unconscious friend in Hotstreak's arms.

As Hotstreak made his way to his side, Static quickly jumped off his disk and ran to meet him. "What happened? Is she..." his voice was frantic and filled with worry as he spoke.

"It's okay. With a little rest and care, she'll be fine." There was a long moment of awkward silence between the two fighters, but was soon broken by Hotstreak as he cleared his throat; trying to draw Static's attention off of Rioko and back on him. "Look, Static...umm...I just wanted to, uhh..." he was never good at these kind of things, but he knew he had to... "Thanks."

Static seemed somewhat taken back by Hotstreak's sincere appreciation, "Hey, I just provided the distraction. You're the one who saved 'er. Not me."

"Yeah, but we'd both be dead now if it wasn't for your help." Hotstreak paused for a moment as he shifted Rioko slightly, "Look, thanking people isn't something I normally do, so just accept it, okay?"

"Sure. You're welcome." After hearing a small groan emit from Ebon, Static chuckled a bit. "Now, what'd ya say I call the cops to get these losers outta here and into a place they can't break out of?"

"You do that. I'm gonna take her back to my place for the night."

Static's instincts were still wary of leaving Rioko in Hotstreak's care, but if he had learned anything tonight, it was the Hotstreak cared for his partner more then he could ever imagine. "Alright."

No matter how slight it was, Hotstreak could still pick up the hesitation in his rival's voice. "I'll keep you posted. Oh, you'll find Talon down that hall and Shiv's out the back door." he said while nodding over to the dark hall.

"Got it."

After carefully placing Rioko in the passenger seat of his Lamborghini so as not to crush her wings and driving a good ten minutes, Hotstreak placed his foot firmly of the brakes and pulled the hotrod to a halt in front of a warn down apartment building. He climbed somewhat painfully (still being sore from the previous battle) out of the car and walked to the passenger door. After pulling the door up to its opened position, he again carefully took up a still unconscious Rioko into his arms. Once both were out of the car, he leaned her weight onto his chest and quickly shut the car door with a free hand before swiftly bringing it back to its place at Rioko's back.

The sky was black as could be now as Hotstreak walked up two flights of old, creaking stairs. "Francis!" he jumped slightly upon hearing an old, raspy voice scream at him from below. "Francis Stone! You'd better answer me boy!"

He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes before turning slightly and yelling back to the floor below. "What now Mr. Harker?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Hotstreak could see the wrinkled figure of an elderly man appear from the apartment closest to the stairs. "Where's your rent! You're two months overdue!"

Hotstreak winced upon remembering the bill he was so behind on paying. "Umm...I'll have it...tomorrow."

The old man's face held a deadly scowl as he spoke harshly, "You've been sayin' 'tomorrow' for the last two months!"

"Common old man, just one more day...I promise I'll get it to you tomorrow night tops."

"Ahh..." Mr. Harker waved his hand disapprovingly. "Your promises are worth just about as much as the trash in the dumpster outside."

Normally, Hotstreak would have taken an insult like that with a grain of salt, but as he let his eyes drift down to the peaceful face of his sister resting in his arms, it hit him harder then he ever knew it could. "I know..." he mumbled shamefully.

"What...?" Suddenly, the expression on the old man's face lightened considerably. "Look," he began, this time in a much kinder voice as he took in the appearance of the two beaten and bloodied teenagers, "You look like you got your hands full, quite literally, so why don't you just take till Friday to get it to me."

Hotstreak looked up and allowed a small smile to creep across his lips before nodding and turning to continue his trek up the stairs. "But that rent better get to me by then, or you're outta here, kid!" Mr. Harker's tone had quickly turned from kind to gruff again before he slowly limped his way back into his apartment. _Stupid kids…always getting themselves into more trouble then they can handle…_


	23. Not So Broken

To joyfulcry: Haha...that's funny. A song of a group called Moloko too. I bet you knew that though, didn't you? Anyway, yep...this is it. The big finish! I hope you like it:)

To Lobo-Chan: No, no...that wasn't the end, but this is. I'm sad:(

To LaBOBuren: Mmmm...cherries. Opps, sorry. I don't know why, but that made me think of a nice big ice-cream sundae;) Okay, okay, here ya go...the (really) last chapter. Enjoy:)

To Jill: Opps...sorry. Didn't mean for it to be that short, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. Thankx, as always, for the review:)

To Frost: No really, I think Frost is a cool name...I'm happy to know where you got it from:) Anywho, yeah...I'm seriously thinkin about a sequal. I'm gonna ask everybody what they think now, and as long as there are some that like the idea, I'll definatly get it in the works. And about Hotstreak and the shapeshifting, I'm certinally keeping it a possibility. I'll have to see where the story goes in the future. Oh, and as for your other question, to be honest, I really don't know why Rio's got wings. I just thought it would be cool instead of just saying she could fly. And actually, cuz her wings are somewhat flexible, she can pull them close to her back, making the wingspan barily wider then her back when she's not flying. I hope that helped aswer your question. Hey, and stop saying you're waisting my time, will ya? I love reading your reviews! Later.

Good'ay dudes! sniffs Well, this is it. The last chapter. grabs tissue Thank you so much to all my reviewers for making this such a wonderful story to write and post. And a special thankx to all you who've stuck with my from the beginning, dropping me a line after every chap. I really apreciate all of them! So, since we're down to the end, and I've got a couple people already asking, what'd you guys think about a sequal? Please let me know what you think! And keep your eye out cuz sometime next week I'll post again so I can reply to everybody who reviews this chap. Okay, now this is like the longest chap I've ever written, so I'm gonna let you guys get to reading now. Later!

And now, the conclusion...

* * *

That night must have been the slowest in all of Hotstreak's life; like time was broken and refused to move. But still yet, there he sat; Rioko sleeping in his bed, and he, sitting in a chair next to her. He had tried to sleep, but the worry of his little sister's condition wouldn't allow him. Most of the minor cuts and bruises were easy enough to clean and would easily heal on their own, and there were only a few deep cuts that had required a little stitching. But there was one thing that had him concerned even more so.

While carefully stitching a slash (probably caused by Shiv's psychotic temper) across the middle of her back, he caught sight of a group of old wounds just near the base of her left wing. Being cautious not to harm her, he gently pushed back the wing to give him a clear view and stared in slight horror at the scars of two bullet wounds_. So close to her heart...how did she live through this?_ In somewhat disbelief, Hotstreak grazed his fingers across the wounds to make sure they were real. To his disappointment, they were.

Still sitting deep in thought, Hotstreak stared at Rioko's calm face as it shone in the light of the full moon high in the late-night sky. So much had happen in the last nine years. He had never imagined such an innocent kid could have changed so much. Feeling a new rush of thoughts overwhelm his mind, Hotstreak allowed his sight to drift over to his window; looking out to the clear sky in the distance.

_"Why did you leave her?" he heard Static ask. _

_"What?" _

_"Rioko...what made you leave her alone like that at such a young age?" Hotstreak could tell Static cared for her by the tone in his voice. _

Still in his trance of thought, Hotstreak silently answered truthfully to Static's previous question. _I was scared...no...stupid. I thought leaving would give her a chance to start a new life. _

_"Real good job that did." Static's voice rang in his head. _

He sighed painfully, "Yeah..." Managing finally to fall into a light sleep shortly after, Hotstreak was able to give his guilt-stricken heart some time to take in all the nights' events.

As the early morning sun began to shine its bright rays through his window and onto his face, Hotstreak woke with a start, only to find his fears unchecked. Rioko was still lying in the bed beside him; still resting peacefully. (Not, like he had thought, dying in Shiv's wicked grasp.) "Haa..." he sighed in tired relief as he gently rubbed his eyes of the weariness heavily embedded in them. Leaning forward a bit, he warmly caressed Rie's cheek, as if checking for any signs of fever.

Under his soft touch, Rioko felt herself come back to awareness. She didn't allow herself to shift her body or open her eyes at first. No, all she did was breathe peacefully to feel that gentle caress. As she felt the touch pull away though, she slowly forced her tired eyes half-open.

Immediately, her clouded gaze caught Hotstreak's, who felt a light small curve over him. "Hey there..." he said kindly.

"Hi." upon hearing the sound of her raspy voice, Rioko began to clear her throat; instantly regretting it after wincing to a numb pain in her chest.

The smile on Hotstreak's face turned quickly back to worry as he watched the pained movement. "Try to stay still." he said while placing a hand on her arm. "I think you bruised a few ribs. It'll hurt to move for a little while."

"Great." she mumbled quietly before looking to her surroundings and asking, "Where am I?"

"My place. You were out, and I don't know where you live, so I had to." he paused for a minute, but quickly added, "How are you feeling?"

"Peachy." With an obvious refusal to obey her brother's orders, Rioko ignored the throbbing pain throughout her body and pulled herself to a sitting position in the bed. There was a long moment of awkward silence before she decided to speak. "What made you come?"

She wasn't very pacific, but Hotstreak knew too well what she was talking about nonetheless. "I would say 'cuz you're my little sister, but that's never meant anything before, huh?"

Rie cocked her head a tad, as if trying to decipher Hotstreak's intentions.

"I don't know...if you can find it somewhere to believe me, I guess I didn't want anything to happen to you."

In her mind, Rioko wanted to explode on her brother right then and tell him all that's 'happened' to her because of the stupid mistakes he'd made. But something inside her pulled her from that action. Instead, she decided to take a lighter, yet still powerful approach. "And what makes you think nothing's already happened to me?" she wanted him to correct his own sentence.

"Nothing does. Look, I know you've been through a lot. But I guess I just thought that maybe if you didn't die last night, maybe you'd give me a second shot at what I left behind."

Okay, forget making him talk, Rioko thought it was her time to speak now. "What you left behind died a long time ago. All that's left is me."

Hotstreak sighed sorrowfully. "You are what I left. Look, I know 'sorry' ain't gonna cut it anymore, but if you'll just give me a chance..."

"I want to Francis...but you've changed so much. You're a thief, notorious criminal, and, judging by the way you fought me the other day, maybe even a killer."

Hotstreak's defenses were shot. He had nothing left to defend himself with. "I can change...but only with help."

Rioko wanted to forgive him right there, but there was so much anger, so much pain. Could she really forgive someone who had done so much to her? "I know you can, but are you willing? We've lived apart for so long. Wouldn't it just be easier if we went our separate ways again?"

He could feel a tear threatening to sting the corner of his eye. "No!" his voice raised slightly, but calmed down rapidly after. "I don't want to loose you again." he stood from his chair and began pacing somewhat around the room while Rioko kept him under a watchful eye. "I'm sorry...for everything. I know I'm not the best brother, hell; it was because of me that you almost got killed last night. And if there was any way I could change everything that I did, believe me I would. But right now, all I can do is ask for your forgiveness. I understand if you won't forgive...I know I don't deserve it...I just had to try."

"Francis..." Rie started; trying bite back the sound of pain in her voice by softly clearing her throat. "I...I do forgive you. Why do you think I came to Dakota?"

"You did?" Hotstreak stopped his pacing as he spoke.

"Yeah. Look, alotta stuff happened after you left. After a while, all I wanted was to find you again and get outta what I had gotten into."

Hotstreak bowed his head in shame before answering. "Bet you're disappointed with what you found."

She didn't know why, but for some reason, Rie felt a smile come over her just then. "You're not the only one who's changed." Hotstreak looked up with an expression not too far from confusion. "I'm not exactly the same person either, you know." she added lightly while looking down at her hands in her lap.

Feeling now they were on some plain of truths, Hotstreak got bold and decided to ask the question that had been plaguing him all night. "Why were you shot?"

"What?" Rie asked as she cocked her head to the side a bit.

"On your back. There're two gun wounds. When did that happen?"

Rioko let her gaze fall back down to her lap as if struggling to win some battle raging within her. "Three years ago." She looked up; hoping her answer would be enough for her curious brother. Too bad she could tell it wasn't by his anxious expression. "Remember Teejay O'Neill?" she finally decided to continue.

"One of the guys I left to protect you from...yeah, I remember. What about him?" Hotstreak asked curiously.

After sighing heavily, and wincing from the numb pain it caused, Rioko explained, "About six months after you left, life was gettin' really hard. Teejay took me in. Eventually, I joined his gang."

"What!"

"Yeah...there's irony for yeah, huh?"

"Tell me about it." Hotstreak replied with a strong tone of worry and grief in his voice.

"Yeah well, anyway, over the years, till I was 'bout fifteen, Teejay and I got real close. He became like family to me."

Though he wouldn't let himself admit it out loud, that last sentence cut Hotstreak deeper then he ever thought it could. "Oh..."

"Then one night, our hideout was ambushed by a gang we'd been fightin' for a while. The Wolves; they called themselves." Hotstreak could see Rioko shiver upon saying the gang's name out loud. "We were completely outnumbered. Teejay and I fought side by side like we always had,"

Again, another sentence to cut Hotstreak to the core.

"But when I had my back turned, the leader of the gang pulled out a gun a shot me before I had a chance to react. He would have easily killed me with another shot, but..." Rioko paused again; sighing sorrowfully as she tried to push back old emotions. "Teejay ran in front of me and took the bullet. Next thing I remember, I woke up in one of our old hideouts with a few of the other members of my gang around me. But Teejay wasn't there. Later, I found out that he died shortly after taking the bullet."

"Oh..." Hotstreak fumbled around for the right words. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah well, these things happen I guess."

"It must have hurt to loose someone so close to you." Hotstreak added quietly as he watched Rie brush away a rebellious tear from her cheek.

"Why would you care? You hated him anyway. Besides, it's not like it was the first time I lost someone."

Her words were harsh, but Hotstreak knew they were only the truth. "I don't hate him anymore. No matter my record with him. Anyone who takes care of you is no enemy of mine."

"That's good to know." shortly following her last statement, Hotstreak left the room to go make some breakfast while Rioko sat in deep thought of the events of the last few days.

After eating an omelet in silence, it had now been nearly thirty minutes since either exchanged any conversation other than 'how do u like your eggs?' and it was wearing on Hotstreak's nerves. _Come on you idiot! You're loosing her! Say something before she starts hating you…again!_ "Rioko?"

The younger female teen said nothing; just looked up at her brother with dull, cloudy eyes.

"Was O'Neill a better brother? I mean, to you. Was he better to you then I was?"

Rie felt her head cock slightly as Hotstreak bowed his head; seeming to be inwardly reprimanding himself for speaking at all. She sighed as deeply as her sore ribs would let her. "I'm not gonna lie to you Francis." Hotstreak raised his head while she spoke. "Yes, he was for the time I knew him...much better." she watched as her brother's expression turned even greater saddened then it was before. She swore if he didn't have so much pride, he would have started crying right there. "But, despite that," she continued, "the fact is, he wasn't my brother, Francis...you are." Hotstreak's expression lightened a bit. "And, if you're willing to stick around this time," she paused; as if afraid to finish. "I'd like to give you another shot at it."

Hotstreak smiled happily. "Really? You mean that?"

By now, Rioko too was smiling. "You know I never say what I don't mean. Of course I mean it."

Hotstreak did all he could to contain himself from jumping in joy out of his chair. Instead, he calmly stood and walked to his sister's side. Upon receiving open arms from her, he gently sat down and hugged her out of sheer joy for the first time since before their parents died. "Thank you." he said weakly through a sound that Rioko place to be a light cry.

Later that day, as the sun lowered in the mid-afternoon sky, Virgil was growing extremely anxious over his partner's condition. "He said he'd keep me posted! Why hasn't he called yet?" Obviously speaking of the promise Hotstreak had made him the night before, Virgil thought hard as he paced nervously over the old floors of the 'Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude'.

Just then, at the very moment he was about to go hunt down the hot head himself, his shock vox beeped inside his coat pocket. "Hey V, you there?" a familiar female voice asked.

In lightening speed, he grabbed for the communicator and exclaimed excitedly. "Rie! You're okay!"

"Yes, Virg, I'm fine. Hey, can you meet me in the park?"

"Wha? Why?" Virgil asked; confused.

"Just meet me. I need to talk to you."

"Okay...be there in ten, kay?"

"Yeah, that's fine. See you then."

Once the connection was terminated, Virgil stood, just staring at the vox. _What in the world? One minute, I think she's fatally injured, and the next, she's asking me to meet her in the park._ he did a strange mix of a groan and sigh while shaking his head and grabbing his backpack containing his Static suit, just in case. "I swear, you'd think she could at least tell me why I'm rushing half-way across town. But no…she's gotta be all secretive."

Exactly ten minutes later, Virgil arrived on the top of a hill in Dakota's city park. (the very same place he and Rioko had designated their 'meeting spot' nearly a month before.) He stood for a moment, waiting for any sign of his close friend. "Virgil!" he finally heard called out from behind.

Instantly placing the voice with Rioko, he turned and smiled happily upon seeing her face. He didn't even register Hotstreak standing beside as he ran up to his friend. At the moment, all that mattered to him was Rioko. "Rie! You really are okay! How are you feeling? You had me so worried!"

Rioko laughed after hearing Virgil's frantic speech, but winced slightly upon feeling a foreign pressure on her ribs when he embraced her tightly. "Hey...yeah, I'm fine. But a little sore, if you don't mind..."

Virgil took the hint and quickly backed off and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Oh, I'm so sorry...I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No Virg, don't worry, I'm fine."

After giving a sigh of relief, Virgil finally caught sight of Hotstreak as he quietly cleared him throat; as if trying to find a way to get noticed. "Hotstreak! What are you...!" Realizing he wasn't in uniform, Virgil began to panic slightly.

"Don't worry, sparky...I won't tell." Hotstreak assured the younger teen with a smug grin on his face.

"Umm...okay. Rie, what's goin' on?" Even though Hotstreak had saved her life the night before, Virgil still found it quite odd for the two to be standing so close to each other (and not fighting).

"Francis and I had a little talk. We both agree that if we're gonna pick up our family again, there're some things in Gotham we gotta go back and work out."

"You mean you guys are really like 'family' again?" Virgil asked; almost repeating Rioko's statement just for emphasis.

"Yeah. We still got some things to work out, but we'll get to them when they come up." Rie said while smiling up at her brother, who kindly smiled back.

"So wait, you're leaving!" Virgil's voice shot up a couple octaves as he spoke.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's not permanent. Like I said, we got some things to work out, but we'll be back as soon as they're cleared up."

"Wait, what about my partner? Static still needs you here." he didn't want to sound at all selfish since he knew this was best for both of the other metahumans, but still...Virgil didn't want her to go.

"I'll be back, V. And besides, I think Static can handle going solo for a little while." the smile on Rie's face slowly faded away as she spoke that last sentence.

"I'll miss you, Rie." Virgil said sadly.

"I'll miss you too. But I promise, I'll be back." Rioko opened her arms as she spoke, signaling Virgil to follow suit. He did. Gently (this time), Virgil moved into his friend's arms and hugged her as tightly as he could without causing her any pain. After a long moment, Rioko pulled away slightly and placed her hand on Virgil's cheek before kissing him tenderly on his chocolate brown lips.

Virgil could feel his heart beat faster and faster at the touch, but suddenly stop cold as she pulled away her touch. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words were found within him.

"See you soon." he heard Rie say kindly, just before taking her brother's hand and flying off into the clear blue sky.

"Rie..." he called out quietly after the shadowy figure of his dear friend growing smaller and smaller in the distance. "…I'll be here when you get back." he took one more longing gaze before turning and slowly making his way down the hill; back to reality and back to a life that would be ever waiting for the love he was afraid to admit.

The End


	24. Replies to Reviewers

To joyfulcry: Thankx so much! Really, you've stuck with me from the very first chapter, and that really means a lot. And don't worry, I will be doing something different before I write the sequel to this. Till next story!

To Lobo-Chan: Haha...oh yeah...you're the girl;) Actually, considering that you gave me the idea in the first place, you really are:) Thankx for all the funny reviews!

To LaBOBuren: Thankx much:) And yes, I am going to make a sequal. I'll get more into in the the a/n below. Later!

To Jill: Yep, no prob. Thankx a lot for reviewing:)

To Frost: Well I'm glad you liked it so much, even with a small hint of romance. Thank you so much for you're really encouraging reviews and suggestions. I really appreciate. Haha...and yes, the sequal is coming, and yes, I can tell your esteem has gone up. (That's a good thing:) Thankx so much again! I hope to hear from you again in future stories. Later!

**A/N:** Okay, ye 5...Be proud! For you are the best reviewers ever! Whether you've been with me from the beginning, or just joined in a couple chaps ago, each and every one of you are extremely appreciated for making me laugh, think, and write! I hope to hear from all of you again in the future! Now, down to buisness...yes, obviously, there IS going to be a sequel. But, as I briefly mentioned to joyfulcry, there is another project that has been begging to be written that I am going to write first. If anyone is interested in checking it out, it's going to be called "The Hunter's Grandaughter" and will begin to be posted later this week under the LXG (that's League of Extordinary Gentlemen) category. Please, check it out! Thankx so much again to everyone who has dropped me a line through this story. Thank you, and Goodnight.

>StriderX


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